BA Business: Organisational Theory and Practice Report on ASOS Plc

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of ASOS Plc, focusing on its organizational theory and practice. It begins with an introduction to management theories and their application within ASOS, a major online fashion retailer. The report then delves into the managerial style of ASOS's CEO, examining it through Henry Mintzberg's managerial roles framework. It proceeds to analyze the steps taken by the CEO to implement organizational changes, utilizing Kurt Lewin's change model and exploring the influence of organizational culture, including Charles Handy's model. The report further describes the leadership styles employed by the CEO, focusing on democratic and laissez-faire approaches, and assesses the impact of power, influence, and conflict within the company. Finally, it explores various motivational strategies used by ASOS, supporting these with corporate examples and relevant literature, and concludes with suggestions and recommendations to enhance organizational performance. The report aims to provide a deep understanding of organizational dynamics, leadership, and change management within a real-world business context.

Organisational Theory
and Practice

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task A..............................................................................................................................................1
Task B..............................................................................................................................................4
Steps taken by CEO to bring a change in organisation structure in order to achieve high
performance along with analysis of organisational culture and its influence on employees...........4
Task C..............................................................................................................................................5
Describe the leadership style of the CEO of ASOS Plc to enhance the effectiveness of an
organisation......................................................................................................................................5
Task D..............................................................................................................................................7
Examine the effect of power, influence and conflict in ASOS Plc..................................................7
Task E..............................................................................................................................................8
Explain various types of motivational strategies used by ASOS Plc...............................................8
Corporate example and literature to justify the stand made............................................................9
Suggestions and recommendations (strategies) to increase organisational performance..............10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References:.....................................................................................................................................12
Books and Journals...............................................................................................................12

Introduction
For the effectively management of an organisation manager at top level of management
implements and make use of relevant theories and practices which guides the behaviour of an
each individual within internal organisations. There are certain roles, skills and abilities of a
manager required for effectively managing the workforce and directing their efforts towards the
common objectives. Management theories have been in practice since the industrial revolution
and are widely used in the modern workplaces to lead the organisation towards success and
growth (Falco, Noriega and Susskind, 2019). ASOS Plc is a online shopping company operating
majorly in the clothing industry, founded in the year 2000 with its headquartered at London,
United Kingdom. It is a giant online fashion and cosmetic retailer company offering wide and
diverse range of products such as shoes, accessories, beauty and clothes to a specified target
group of young adults. The objective of the report is to understand the concepts and principles of
management along with its roles, skills and functions. Furthermore, report also outlines the use
of appropriate motivational theory and leadership styles to keep the employees engaged and
committed towards the work. The report also covers the basic understanding of group dynamics
and change management within the organisation that helps in enhancing the effectiveness and
efficiency.
Task A
Managerial style of the CEO of ASOS
Henry Mintzberg is a renowned Canadian management expert, author and academic in the field
or organisational structure and design. He recommended the splitting down the roles of
management and organising the workplace with the help simplifying the complex organisational
structure. Apart from that a prodigy feels that managerial skills can only be learned through
experience and can-not be acquired by a mere lecture in classroom. Based on his managerial
style companies can create more efficient working culture and structure where employees can
develop their skill set and work with productivity (Amarakoon and et. al., 2019).
Mintzberg studied distinct types of organisations including school, consulting firm,
manufacturer and a hospital; and concluded ten types of managerial roles which are classified
into three categories which are mentioned below:
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Figure 1 Mintzberg Model: 10 Different Roles of a Successful Manager, 2016
Source: (Mintzberg Model: 10 Different Roles of a Successful Manager, 2016)
Interpersonal roles Figurehead: Being a figure head, CEO of ASOS Plc is responsible to carry out social,
legal and ceremonial duties which reflect their authority and status in the organisation.
Managers represent their company both internally and externally in a professional
manner as they are the one who attend business dinners, meetings, greet visiting
dignitaries and attend employee’s wedding. They act as networker and an exemplary role
model for employees (Petrov, 2020).
 Leader: In the leading role CEO motivates, inspire and boost the morale of employees
and aims at building relationship with team members through interacting with them.
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Leader provides support, guidance and coaching to employees by analysing their
performance level on regular basis.
 Liaison: CEO of ASOS act an intermediary between the top level of management and
low level of management to disseminate the information and building healthy
relationship within different department and external stakeholder such as government
institution, trade associations and other competitors .
Informational roles The Monitor: As a monitor CEO of ASOS is responsible for collecting all the internal
and external information which could impact the performance in a competitive market.
Furthermore, it is the duty of monitor to analyse, assess and arrange the information to
find out the possible threat, and opportunities along with possible solution (Lips-
Wiersma, Haar and Wright, 2020). Disseminator: As a disseminator it is the prime objective of CEO to provide factual
information to the subordinates and other people in organisation and delegate work
accordingly. Spokesman: CEO of ASOS is also responsible for represent the company to outside
world and provides necessary information on corporate governance, policies,
performance and other aspects.
Decision making Entrepreneur: As an entrepreneur, managers must easily adapt to the changes and foster
creativity and innovation in the organisation through creating and implementing ideas
and strategies. Disturbance handler: As a disturbance handler, manager must be the one to respond
quickly to respond to the unexpected events or operational breakdowns to ensure smooth
running of business. These can be internal or external roadblocks such as conflicts among
team members and scarcity of materials (Southgate and et. al., 2019). Resource allocator: As a resource allocator CEO of ASOS controls and allocates the
resources from finance to equipment to ensure smooth and well executed operational
activities.
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 Negotiator: As a negotiator, CEO actively participates in negotiations with team
members and other parties to have win to win situation while keeping the interest of
organisation first.
Task B
Steps taken by CEO to bring a change in organisation structure in order to
achieve high performance along with analysis of organisational culture
and its influence on employees.
Changes are inherent into nature and thus in the business environment and runs across all types
of business firms irrespective of size, industry and age. Changes are taking place at a rapid speed
and it is essential for the companies to quickly adapt to these changes in order to maintain
competitive edge and survive in the industry (Sims, 2019). Change management helps the ASOS
Plc is bringing necessary changes and assist people in the organisation to easily adapt to changes.
CEO of the company has brought few steps to bring changes in the company are mentioned
below:
Kurt Lewin’s Change Model Unfreezing: With the help of unfreezing ASOS helps in creating the awareness in the
organisation by designing the compelling message highlighting why present status quo,
process, methods, or adaptability can-not be continued and hindering the progress of
company. By analysing behaviour, attitude, process and organisational structure,
employees can be influence and make them understand how a relevant change is
necessary for the company to be relevant, competitive and profitable. Changing: At this stage a real change is brought into ASOS after successfully
communicating with the people in organisation and influencing them to accept change.
People begin to learn new process, new behaviour and ways to thinking which make
them prepare for the successful implementation of change (Edwards-Groves and et. al.,
2019). CEO provide proper support, training and communicate effectively to support
employees to accept changes. Refreezing: After the implementation of changes and readiness of people to embrace
changes ASOS is read for refreeze. This stage crucial for the managers as it must be
ensured that changes are prolonged and people do not turn back to the old ways of doing
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things. Changes must be embedded into culture and maintained as a acceptable
behaviour, managers of ASOS provide rewards and recognition for the desired behaviour
and makes efforts that changes are not lost.
Culture of an organisation is defined as the principles, beliefs, attitude and customs shared by the
people working which determines the way they interact among themselves and with outside
world. Values and polices of each company differentiate it from other and determines the overall
working culture and ways goals are met (Van Vliet and Dubbink, 2019).
Charles Handy model of Organisational culture
There are four types of organisation culture which helps in influencing the behaviour of people: Power: This type of culture is where only few people have powers to make decisions and
delegate responsibility to the subordinates. Employees are asked to follow order and have
no right share or express view which leads to dissatisfaction and absenteeism at
workplace. Task culture: This type of organisational culture aims at achieving target through
collaborative efforts of employees. Employees work in team where task is assigned as per
their specialisations and interest which increases employee’s satisfaction, enhancing
skills and productivity. Person culture: Under person culture, employees keep their interest first over
organisation and work only for the sake of money and personal goals. Employees are less
loyal and committed towards work, and oppose the changes. Role culture: Under role culture employees are delegated responsibilities as per their
specialization, interest, experience to maximise the potential of each employee. People
under this culture are productive, competitive and ready to accept challenges (Hjort and
et. al., 2019).
Task C
Describe the leadership style of the CEO of ASOS Plc to enhance the
effectiveness of an organisation
Leaders in the company can defined as the person responsible for influencing the workforce
towards the common goals, whereas, leadership is defined as the art of encouraging the
employees to act in a specified way in order to achieve long term objective. Therefore, it is
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essential for ASOS to make a right choice of different leadership styles which will assist the
leaders and managers to effectively manage the people and their efforts in an organisation.
Different leadership styles used by the CEO of ASOS
 Democratic or participative leadership style: The objective of this style of is increase
the participation level of employees in the process of decision making, however the final
decision is made by the leaders and managers only (Johnston and Lane, 2019).
Employees with the equal participation feel included, engaged and more valued at
workplace which in turn helps in increasing the satisfaction and motivation level of
employees. CEO of ASOS with this style of leadership not only keeps employees
engaged but also develops their creativity and cognitive skills. Participative style of
leadership is effective in enhancing the productivity of employees at workplace through
creation of a culture of team work and collaboration.
 Laissez Faire Style of leadership: This type of leadership style helps the CEO of ASOS
in delegating the responsibilities and initiatives to the employees making them
accountable for their job duties and actions. This style of leadership is sometimes also
referred to as delegative or hands off style where managers provides no direction to the
employees and let them determine their goals, make relevant decisions and resolve
conflicts on their own. Such style of leadership is effective in an organisational culture
employees are highly competent, responsible, experienced and prefer to work
individually. Under delegative leadership styles employees can make best use of their
expertise and skills with no control and guidance by superiors or managers along with
motivating by own desires and aspirations (Harst and et. al., 2019). However, employee
may oppose to adapt the necessary changes in the organisation which can be difficult task
to manage.
It has been observed that CEO of ASOS Plc in order to motivate and guide the workforce in
an organisation adopts “democratic style of leadership which helps in keeping the morale of
employee high and increasing loyalty at workplace. Employees with the entrusted power to
make decisions or seeking of suggestion in strategic decisions makes them feel valued,
empowered and meet their need of self esteem as their views are appreciated and recognised
by the employer and other team members.
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Task D
Examine the effect of power, influence and conflict in ASOS Plc
Powers in the business context is concerned with the credibility and influencing the people
working in an organisation towards the common purpose. Powerful leaders are known for their
ability to persuade and influence the behaviour of employees at workplace. Power is directly
associated with the position, authority and extent of responsibility one holds in an organisation
and have a different level of influence on the employees (Gordon and et. al., 2020). Powers are
classified into distinct categories to determine the effect on conflict and influence: Coercive power: This kind of power is concerned with threatening people to get the work
done and one desire. Managers in the organisation torture and threaten employees by
firings, demotions and transfers to influence their behaviour and conflict management.
Use of such powers compels employee to get agree to a demand in the fear of loss of
something. Reward power: Unlike coercive power managers make use of rewards such as training
opportunity, bonus, paid leaves, perks or responsibility in new projects. These powers
have a significant effect in influencing the behaviour of employees and direct their efforts
towards desired objective. However, reward powers does not work sometimes and are
less effective as there are other people in organisation who make decisions with these
aspects such as board of directors, senior managers etc. Legitimate Power: These powers generally stems out from the person holding significant
and official position whether it is from an organisation, government or bureaucracy.
These powers have a short term impact as a manager can exercise the power till he/she in
charge of a relevant position. On the other hand, it has a little scope as power can be
exerted through a specific position only (Stelmaszczyk, 2020). Expert power: As the name suggest these powers stems out from the expertise and
experience of an individual which is regarded as of exceptional quality and can-not be
acquired in a short span of time. CEO at ASOS plc makes use of their experience and
knowledge to influence the behaviour of employees and becomes their role model. These
powers are associated with the credibility and great respect as these powers are person
specific and can be enhanced over the time, thus have a long term effect.
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 Referent power: These powers are dominantly used by the celebrities, film starts and
other renowned personalities due to their wider reach and huge fan following who adore
them follow them and consider them as a role model. They have a intense and long term
effect in influencing the behaviour of a people and assist them in making decisions.
Employees at workplace are influenced largely by their decisions and respect their views
and opinions (Assunção Flores and Gago, 2020).
Task E
Explain various types of motivational strategies used by ASOS Plc
Maslow’s theory of motivation was propounded by the well renowned psychologist
Abraham Maslow in 1940 as a theory individual development and motivation. According the
theory Maslow suggested that we as a human as a hierarchy of needs and move in the specified
order to get the basis needs and desire fulfil. This theory is one of the best known and influential
theories used at modern workplace to keep the employees satisfied and motivated. Maslow
presented the theory is a form of triangle with distinct stages defining the level and priority of
needs and desires to be fulfil in order to get motivated. There are five stages in Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs theory:
 Physiological needs: These are the most basic needs of human at workplace such as
place to work, regular monthly salary and comfortable working environment. ASOS Plc
ensures that employees get access to the essential services and opportunities in the
organisation to make sure that employees are satisfied and motivated at workplace (Cain
and et. al., 2019). Safety and security needs: Safety and security is other vital need that can affect overall
satisfaction of employees at workplace. ASOS Plc ensures that employees feel safe and
secure at workplace with ergonomic furniture, proper training to handle any accidents
and taking necessary measures to avoid the risk of injury and damage to the property.
Apart from this, ASOS ensures that employees feel emotionally safe secure with regards
to their job as the company provides pension benefits plans and opportunities for career
development. Love and Belonging: This stage of hierarchy of needs suggest that it is essential for
employees to have a sense of belonging, support and healthy relationship at workplace
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which determines their level of engagement and motivation to work towards common
goal. It is essential for the managers in ASOS to organise a social activities which
increases the interaction among employees and help them in understanding the team
members better (Falco, Noriega and Susskind, 2019). Esteem needs: This stage of hierarchy suggests that employees feel confident and are
more likely to succeed when they are recognised for their efforts and feel that their
contribution is made towards the higher goal. ASOS Plc ensures that employees get
regular feedback, appreciation and recognition from the employers to make the
employees understand their abilities and increase more engagement at workplace. Self-actualisation needs: Last stage of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is concerned with
maximising the potential of employees at workplace. Employees feel motivated,
empowered and trusted when they realise that they are doing their best at a relevant
position. Self actualised employees feel satisfied and confident, therefore tend to be more
committed and succeed in career path. Managers in ASOS analyse the skills and potential
of employees and provide them opportunities to grow and prosper which keeps them
loyal and motivated at workplace. (Amarakoon and et. al., 2019).
Corporate example and literature to justify the stand made
Taking an example of Tesco, a leading retailer company in United Kingdom offers grocery
and other consumable products to the people around UK and across Europe. Management style
followed by Tesco is the democratic management style where managers and employees equally
participate in the decision making process, fostering equality and elimination of hierarchy of
authority in workplace. Democratic management style used by the company helps in motivating
and inspiring employees to be committed towards work and goals of an organisation. One of the
best features of this style of management is build innovative capability and increase productivity
of employees which helps the company in enhancing its overall performance and profitability.
On the other hand, leadership style followed by Tesco is Laissez faire which is based on the
concept of leaving employees free to work, make their own decisions, resolving conflicts and set
goals to be achieved (Petrov, 2020). This style of leadership style is ideal for the company as the
staff personnel are highly competitive, responsible and accountable for their actions. Tesco is
being able to foster creativity and innovation at workplace with the “hands off” leadership style
along with maximising the potential of the workforce.
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Suggestions and recommendations (strategies) to increase organisational
performance
On the basis of above evaluation it has been identified that ASOS Plc needs to opt for a
certain strategies which will assist the company in increasing the level of performance and
competitive edge in the competitive environment. Below mentioned are the few suggestions and
recommendations for the company:
 Evaluating the performance on a regular basis and career plans helps in motivating the
employee and keep their moral high. Area of improvements can be identified and with
the help of coaching ASOS Plc can increase the productivity and efficiency level of
employees thus enhancing the performance level of company (Lips-Wiersma, Haar and
Wright, 2020). Performance measurement and rewards system helps the employees in
committed towards work and produce work with efficiency which leads to the increase
the performance of company.
 Management of ASOS make use of participative style of leadership to make employees
feel involved and valuable in an organisation. Democratic style of leadership will assist
the leader to build an effective team and foster creativity at workplace. Seeking active
participation from employees makes them feel that they are contributing for towards
valuable and important task which builds up confidence and helps in identifying their
abilities and set of skills. Employees with democratic style of leadership are more
committed towards work, creative and loyal at workplace thus contribute towards
enhancing the performance of ASOS.
 Apart from this, manager in ASOS needs to communicate effectively with regards to their
expectations from employees and provide necessary training to them. The objective
behind is to maximise the potential of employees and provide them opportunities for
career growth and development (Southgate and et. al., 2019). Employee feel valued by
understanding that organisation wants to grow with their personal growth and
development which keep employee motivated and thus enhances the performance level of
ASOS Plc.
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