Leadership and Management in Retail: A Case Study of Marks & Spencer

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Organisations: Leadership and Management

Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
1. Define and discuss the difference between the concepts of leadership and management...........4
2. Understand the role and functions of a manager, and leader of people.......................................5
3. Analyse one leadership theory. Leadership theories include: Trait Theory, Behavioural
Theories, Contingency Theory, Charismatic Leadership and Transformational Leadership..........7
4. Appreciate the wider, external contexts of managing and leading people in the workplace.......8
5. Analyse a management development program from M&S in the UK focusing on the
leadership development aspect of the Management development program....................................9
6. Develop effective approaches and skills to deal with a range of employment situations.........11
7. Appreciate and evaluate the possible implications of recent and future change in the field of
people management and leadership...............................................................................................12
8. Identify solutions to organisational problems............................................................................14
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................16

Introduction
Marks and Spencer is well known by its name itself, as they are the most leading retail company.
Marks and Spencer have employer over 90,000 people in their operations in Uk as well as in
their international business. They have more than 700 stores in Uk and more than 400 stores
spread in 44 territories of the middle east, Europe and in Asia (Hinterhuber et al 2019).
To increase their sales and operation locally and international, M&S set out a one-year plan that
demonstrated to become a multi-channel retailer. As part of their strategy, M&S introduced a
management development programme to increase the number of their staff as well as their skills
to give satisfactory results to their customers. The strategy also aimed to be working on
suppliers, international colleagues, Employees and lastly to build relationships with customers
and identifying the problems they may have with their brand (Macfarlane and Lomas, 2019).
1. Define and discuss the difference between the concepts of leadership and management.
Leadership is a process where people influence the team to achieve the goals of the company by
setting targets while management is a process to attain stability to the ideas of leadership. The
leadership of Marks & Spencer was accomplished by the traditional family until M&S had issues
thereby changing its leadership strategy. Marks and Spencer follow transformational leadership
theory where they make the team aware of what is happening in the company by using "catch
phrases" and on that basis, leader works with the team to analyse the changes required. Various
kinds of motivational training are also provided in the company. M&S focuses on maintaining its
high quality, fit and contemporary style. They chose to differentiate its product from others
rather than lowering down the cost retails prices in order to become a market leader (Wilson,
2016). "Lead to succeed" is the initiative followed by Marks & Spencer leadership which
identifies how important it is to train their future leaders. In order to strengthen the green
credentials, M&S adopted policies which included ethical training, using sustainable resources,
promoting health products and many more. M&S is trying to focus on more IT investments so
that they can improve the in-store experience of the customers with new concepts of coffee-to-
go.
In order to carry a management role, a pattern of behavior needs to be followed and understood.
A decision for making objectives and thus meeting those objectives is fulfilled by management.
There are different types of management roles like autocratic, consultative and democratic. M&S

follows a consultative pattern where the leader consults the team before taking any decisions.
The final decision even though made by the leader is influenced by the group. A mixture of
various management styles is adopted in the business of Marks and Spencer. Sometimes they use
democratic management style along with consultative. Taking the hierarchy into consideration,
they give the chance to management sometimes to decide which pattern they want to follow
(Bemon, 2018). The people of higher management follow the autocratic management style
where they tell the staff directly what they are supposed to do with respect to the production line
and logical designing. They use this style because the staff under them has no knowledge related
to that field. Those of medium status like Managing Director have complete knowledge about
their field and so they are fully taken into consideration while making any important decisions in
the company. Shareholders, on the other hand, take complete notice whether the decisions are
made with the concern of profit and benefit to the company (Wilson, 2016).
Managers can be categorized as follows:
 Commercial managers who inspire the staff to implement their ideas in real time
and add their creativity to the methods already tested.
 Financial managers who analyse and influence the profitability of the company
and the decisions of the business.
 Personnel Management who ensures that the staff is highly motivated and
implements appraisal systems to training.
2. Understand the role and functions of a manager, and leader of people.
Role and functions of leader in Marks and Spencer:
The vital functional areas of M&S are planning, operations and inventory. Team leader gives a
clear vision to the team and ensures the productivity of every shift of work as much as possible.
This involves training and development of the team along with the motivation with respect to the
business requirements of the company. The leader helps people to grow with the skills and
performance by providing them with all the opportunities they require. In addition to a
commercial mindset, the leaders require very strong analytical, communication and
organizational skills.
The process flow for the entire distribution system is managed by Operational Team
Leaders. In order to meet the daily business requirements and exceed into it, they direct daily,
weekly and monthly activities. Right leadership qualities help them in motivating everyone to

perform their best to the work and give the first-class service. Keeping in mind the customer's
choice of better quality, designs, and fitting, the leader's role is to provide proper training to the
team. The vision of the leader is to put Marks and Spencer to its reputation for value, service,
quality, and innovation (Scott and Walker, 2017).
"Lead to Succeed" targets the development of senior M&S leaders. The programme focuses on
the strategic development of the organization. This programme is designed in order to train
leaders with challenging opportunities and develop better leadership capabilities which thus lead
to succession. M&S outlines that their leaders combine head, heart, and guts in their strategy.
The leaders use the head to define a strategy, heart to connect close to the world and guts to
make intuitive decisions to their strategy (Purvis, 2015).
Role and functions of Manager in Marks and Spencer:
Managing Marks & Spencer department is an ultimate test as they manage turnover that runs into
millions of pounds. A manager needs to plan, organize and coordinate the activities in order to
ensure that the objectives are met. Role of the manager is to ensure that the strategy is going
according to the plan and working with the people. The undertaking of running M&S store is so
vast that it shall be isolated up into many distinctive, intently co-ordinated areas. Stores are
therefore divided into expansive segments, each of which has its very own specialty. Despite the
fact that the capacities are discrete, every supervisor collaborates as a major aspect of the
Management Team of the store. They include a Personal Manager, Commercial Manager and
Financial Manager who reports to the General Manager. Although categorized, the main aim of
the manager is to ensure that the performance of the store is meeting up to the expectations and
targets. They focus on the selling of merchandise; influence the profits of the store and ensures
that the best training are provided to the staff. Managers make sure that the staff is working
together with better communication and understanding so that the company runs smoothly. They
make important decisions and also consult people whenever required before implementing a
decision (Toda and Dawson, 2017).
3. Analyse one leadership theory. Leadership theories include: Trait Theory, Behavioural
Theories, Contingency Theory, Charismatic Leadership and Transformational Leadership.
Leadership & its Theories:

Leadership is such a quality of the person which is extremely useful to keep the flock under the
motivation clock. The leader is the one who plans the changes, embraces it and walks through it.
There exist different theories of Leadership explained as follows:
Trait theory of Leadership:
Trait theory refers to the qualities of a Leader and there can be different traits of individuals
which make them a Leader. These include motivation, emotional behaviour, intelligence, being
open to suggestions/corrections and many other qualities of a leader (Banks et al. 2016).
A behavioural theory of Leadership:
The decisions which made a team achieve success in this quarter can be observed by the
behavior of the Leader of a group and can be adopted by other group leaders in a desire for
similar outcomes.
Contingency theory of Leadership:
It states that a Leader is said to act according to the situation/scenario, as there may be many
uncertainties, unforeseen events or unpredictable outcomes but this leadership theory defines a
leader to act accordingly such as he/she does not fall prey to the situation.
Charismatic theory of Leadership:
Charismatic Leadership is observed in those kinds of leaders who spread their aura among their
followers and connect emotionally with them. They are said to emotionally and physically
motivate their group and persuade them to meet the organization’s needs (Dong et al. 2017).
Transformational theory of Leadership:
M&S has made a mark across International level by showing off its structured formulae, well-
developed leadership plans, carrying great infrastructure and not losing the culture that they’re
carrying from a long time. They stand tall in the global market and have always been well
organized and maintained ethical standards up to an advanced level (Zhu et al. 2016).
It becomes the responsibility of every standard organization in today's world scenario to prepare
Transformational leadership qualities in leaders at all levels. These extreme qualities provide a
better perspective on the growth and stability of a company. There are different levels of leaders
managing different kinds of sub-groups each being answerable to their superiors from time-to-
time. A leader may act as a risk taker and inspirational character to a group of persons at the
same time is a follower in another group of the same organization, it is important to practice

transformational leadership in such scenarios to help contribute to the growth and wise
management of situations placed ahead of them (Turnnidge et al. 2018).
M&S, like any other organization, has different structured levels. It starts from the CFO,
Humphrey Singer, to a group of operating directors and then dividend into respective sub-groups
relating to different departments under M&S. M&S serves as an exceptional example towards
leadership, however, there have been ups and downs in the recent year which made them
question their leadership. It is fair to propose under this scenario for the organization to consider
adopting a different leadership approach. Transformational Leadership fits in the puzzle here
(Meuser et al. 2016).
M&S, which initially dedicated its business to a clothing forum, now is more than just clothing.
Looking forward to managing wide areas is a humongous hardship. Better leadership techniques
tend to increase in market values. One of the characteristics of Transformational leadership is to
lead the members of a group by persuading them by their charisma and rational risk-taking
ability. Leaders at different organizational levels can attempt to own this technique to reach their
weekly goals in a short time (Willis et al. 2017).
A transformational form of leadership demands various leadership qualities in a person at the
same time. The leader has to be extremely inspirational and should be able to influence his
followers with his intellectual abilities. The motivation the group finds from the leader is
sometimes manipulative and is exceptional. The leader works on the commitments of the
company and idealizes the scenario to bring the best possible outcome (Hermosilla et al. 2016).
4. Appreciate the wider, external contexts of managing and leading people in the workplace
A team comprises a group of followers led by a leader who is defined to be a rational decision
maker. Leadership is the act of achieving a goal by turning any and every favourable opportunity
into a possibility by directing a group or a team to the path of success by motivating them
emotionally and intellectually. Guiding the members of a group, tracking their progress, building
ideas and influencing them to visualize success are all the characteristics of a Leader of a group.
A group under the influence of Transformational leadership would be highly motivated towards
their goal and put their intellectual abilities at best place and enthusiastically bring the desired
change to their organization. This theory defines the leader to be a charismatic individual, a
calculated risk-taker, an influencer and an icon of inspiration.

Considering the global competition in all areas of businesses and unpredictable turbulences
targeted towards markets, it is necessary to practice transformational leadership theory at all
levels of an organization. This will help better in facing unforeseen organization’s challenges,
untimely events/targets and short-notice tasks in a less intimidating way (Hermosilla et al. 2016).
M&S recently announce Stuart Rose as the new successor, the CEO of Food cooperation. He
justified himself of being a people’s choice manager and drew everybody's attention by
addressing the need to find a way back to old ways of managing the business, having
comparatively less struggle to deal with obstacles. Let us consider a scenario where a manager at
M&S can exemplify a model of a leader having transformational leadership qualities. One of the
major tasks would be to find motivation for team members to achieve company’s short-term
goals way sooner in a productive way (Willis et al. 2017).
This implies helping the team with more incentives as soon as they level up their game.
Encourage creative ideas from teammates and give them the credit, such as a memento would be
highly motivational. These practices inspire other teammates to contribute more to the well-
being of the company and be more productive. M&S can influence their family of employees by
conducting quarterly conferences where they are allowed to take part and directly interact with
the board members, this makes them feel like an important member of the organization and build
trust between the two. Hence, Transformational leadership can incase the graphs of M&S and
widen their dividends at an international level.
5. Analyse a management development program from M&S in the UK focusing on the
leadership development aspect of the Management development program
Framework for management change at the M&S
Despite their success and growth in the retail market, M&S has faced a lot of pressure through
the external and internal factors in their organization. This is the major reason for which the
approach is amended to implement a better change in the operations and also to give better
customer satisfaction (Rippin, 2015).
Context of changes
 To solve the problems in the organization such as low customer satisfaction result and
lack of communication within the employees. M&S is one of the over-organized
organizations where its regulations and policies are too rigid to implement a proper action

because of conflict avoidance and poor communication among the employees (Perrin,
2020).
 A basic change of functioning within the organization that includes cultural and structural
change. M&S is substructured because of its little regulation to have an effective
operation all due to the lack of coordination and direction among the employees.
Management development program by marks and Spencer
Objective of management development program
 To increase the employee's awareness on the impact of their culture when they are
working with external contacts that differ from M&S culture.
 To develop interpersonal and strategies and practical skills so that employees can
represent M&S with their leadership qualities globally.
 To motivate leaders to adapt to M&S management styles and work ethics when working
with international M&S franchises.
 To develop a level of learning curiosity with respect to global and cultural markets.
The leadership aspects of Marks and Spencer
The assignment reflects on the head of organizations development and learning aspects within
the employees and operations at M&S so that an extensive strategy and understanding can be
taken place in the operations. The major key consideration should be included in the programme
to build a relevant program for each employee varying from senior to labor degree (Campbell
and Rahman, 2019).
The approach of the program should be integrated with practical exercises so that the leaders of
M&S can adopt a mindset that triggers them to bring change in M&S from top to down (Spencer,
2019).
6. Develop effective approaches and skills to deal with a range of employment situations
The management development program of marks and Spencer should be with:
 Understanding of impacts by cultures and changes in leadership on the international
business.
 A cultural framework to build effective leadership within the organization to maintain
globally spread stores.
 Access to online intercultural learning sources for the employees (Evans, 2019).

Opportunities to promote leadership development
Some opportunities to be considered that will help to promote the leadership development of
employees as under:
 Educational opportunity
Education plays a vital role in the development of any type of organization so does it an
essential role to build leadership qualities. Hence, educational opportunities can play a
key factor to improve the performance of employees by being M&S leaders (Blois,
2017).
 Training opportunities
Another major aspect which is very important to build organization's leader is to give
training opportunities to the employees under the subordinates. Proper training will help
M&S to improve their performance of their staff and will also give motivation to the low-
level employees (Alexander, 2019).
 Development opportunities
To develop leadership qualities in employees which are necessary for the organization to
operate for the betterment (Burt, et al, 2017).
Major cause of poor customer satisfaction
Marks and Spencer Loyality program
Meanwhile, another big-time problem Marks and Spencer is facing is of their loyalty system.
Their loyalty program is often criticized for being difficult to understand and to use. Unlike,
other stores offer points which are directly translated into money forms. &S focused on offering
events and exclusive offers in their store. This typically does not sound like an align type or a
regular Marks and Spencer shopper (Howells, 1981).
This is one of the major elements which have caused poor customer satisfaction for the M&S
shoppers as they are facing a lot of trouble in accessing their loyalty points.
Approaches of Marks and Spencer to enhance its management department
 Exercising storing leadership within the organization

Without healthy and strong leadership qualities in an organization, no positive change
can be taken place to render out ultimate customer satisfaction. Wholly, the staff is
responsible to achieve an organization growth. However, M&S has taken necessary steps
for their employees to take a decision on making responsibility that motivates and
inspires them to play a significant role in the positive outcomes.
 Building trust
Confidence is a belief that may suffer it is threatened. The same goes in any type of
organization, whereas Marks and Spencer have made a level of trust between their
management from up and down so that to communicate well that can positively affect the
health of their organization.
 Creating a helpful environment
M&S has done possibly everything to create a sound ground for change in their
management. In respect of demonstration building trust, leadership qualities and
formulation of a vision within the employees, M&S done all by creating a sound
environment to enable success and to open up with their employees and their problems
(Mellahi et al, 2017).
7. Appreciate and evaluate the possible implications of recent and future change in the field
of people management and leadership.
Managers are made whereas leaders are born, is the most argued concept in recent times. Many
people confuse the manager and leader as synonymous to each other, both there is a difference
between both. A manager is an age-old concept use in the traditional line of business (Donate et
al. 2015).
Major businesses today have started to adopt the concept of effective leadership and people
management. This has brought about a 360-degree turnaround in their business processes. The
world of business today needs more leaders following whom the companies will break their
traditional boundaries and enter a dimension wherein they understand the needs of the customers
and their employees, proving to be a win-win situation for the organization, internally as well as
externally (Paris et al. 2015).
Marks and Spencer is one of the companies which have followed a similar route, the result of
which is the growing popularity and fame of the company nationally as well as internationally.

Even though Marks and Spencer have a very complex structure on the exterior as it is operational
in many countries, internally it has a very simple and basic structure unlike before. It has made
the operations very easy and flexible for the management and employees to understand and
follow. In the future, we can expect more simplification and employee friendly structure which
will be easy to operate.
Unlike the tall organizational structure that the company initially followed, Marks and Spencer
changed it to the Horizontal or Flat structure for the ease of communication and to maintain a
healthy superior-subordinate relationship. Keeping in terms with decentralization, the
organization in the future may make the decision-making process easier (Foote and Gaylard,
2018).
Many unnecessary processes have been cut down due to decentralization, the result of which is
decreased costs for the company, bringing down the prices of the products and increasing the
profitability of the company. In the future, we can expect decreased overhead expenses.
Initially, the organization has a rigid supplier policy, unlike other multi-country operational
companies, that procured the suppliers from the countries that supplied the raw materials at a
cost-effective rate, Marks and Spencer only had suppliers from the home country, resulting in the
increased costs. This concept has been completely scrapped off, now the organization seeks
economies of large scale from the countries where the raw materials are available at a
competitive rate, again bringing down the costs and having a competitive stand in the
competition. in the future, we can expect further tie-ups for the raw materials and production to
bring down the costs.
The company had followed a standardization procedure throughout the world market avoiding
the fact that different customers have different needs. Keeping that in mind the company
changed its policies to customization according to the nation and needs as well as the pricing.
We can confer that it will emerge as a world market leader in the retail segment.
Lack of training for the employees and disregard of the personal goals of the employees led to a
huge employee turnaround. With the introduction of training programs and benefits for the
employees, the company has succeeded in employee retention. In the future, we can comprehend
that it will be the best places in the world to work with (Nguyen et al. 2017).
8. Identify solutions to organisational problems.