Continuous Improvement Strategies: Marks and Spencer Report

This report analyzes continuous organizational improvement, using Marks & Spencer as a case study. It explores the features of organizational culture that encourage change, including effective analysis, communication, and employee involvement. The report examines various approaches to facilitate change, such as education, participation, and negotiation, alongside different methods for continuous quality improvement, including Total Quality Management and benchmarking. It highlights the role of leadership and management styles in driving improvement and supporting organizational success, emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement in enhancing employee engagement and reducing turnover. The report also identifies sources of information, such as social media and feedback, used by organizations to identify areas for improvement and evaluates the contribution of big data to developing effective strategies. Finally, it suggests methods for identifying areas needing improvement, such as consulting experienced consultants and analyzing systematic and one-off errors, concluding that continuous improvement is vital for achieving organizational goals and sustained success.

Managing
Continuous
Organisational
Improvement

INTRODUCTION
Continuous organisation improvement is define as a development procedure that help an
organization in improving their products, services or procedure which leads accomplishment of
activities in impressive and successful manner that leads to high profitability ratio (Ates and
et.al., 2013). It is also essential for an organisation to create plan of action as well as idea for to
manage improvement in effectual as well as proper mode. Organisation taken for this report is
Marks and Spencer that is established by Michael Marks as well as Thomas Spencer in year
1884. Its headquarter is located in London, United Kingdom and it offer its goods and services at
global plane. Topics that are explained in respective document are features of organisation
culture in order to adopt change and diverse approaches related to it. This will also explain about
different practices which are adopted by an organization for adopting improvement on
continuous basis. Along with this it will also explain about information which is required for
planning change and improvement at respective workplace in effective manner.
TASK 1
Features of organisational culture that encourage and allow for continuous improvement
Organization culture refers to belief, values, assumptions and ways which is leads to
development of unique psychological and social environment within an organization. It can also
impact on the ways an individual interact with each other or clients or customers in a workplace.
In regards of M & S, their management can adopt various features that help them in creating as
well as maintaining effective organisational culture at respective workplace, from which some
major of them are explain below:-
 Effective analysis: In respect of M & S they have impressive human resource division
that accomplish or conduct proper research through that they able to identify need and
requirement of customers as well as employees (Bosua and Venkitachalam, 2013). By
this they can develop proper goods, services, policies and rules according to requirement.
 Culture at workplace: Marks and Spencer develop their strategies and policies by
considering proper ethical standard related to both environment as well as peoples. Along
with this culture of respective company is so effective that its employees interact with
each other and build network properly.

 Effective communication: The respective company adopt proper communication system
which motivate staffs as well as promote to accomplish task effectively. They also take
feedback and suggestion from their staffs on regular basis as well as respective company
manager also involve their staffs in decision making process.
Through adopting and developing these feature as their organisational culture M & S able
to conduct their work properly by maintaining effective organisational culture.
Approaches that facilitate the introduction and acceptance of change
For every organisation change is necessary because by this they can accomplish their
activities and operation properly and attain goal. In regards of M & S, their management choose
changes in continuous basis which help them in gaining attraction of customers and this will also
make work of employees easy. In order to this respective organization adopt Kotter and
Schlesinger approach which is mentioned below:-
 Education and communication: The respective company adopt approach of free and
open communication so that staffs interact with each other in effective manner (Lam,
O'Donnell and Robertson, 2015). Along with this they also sponsor some educational
programs of their employees so that they enhance their skills.
 Participation and Involvement: Respective company involve their employees in
decision making process when they are adopting change at workplace. Through this
employees feel motivated and conduct work effectively.
 Facilitation and Support: M & S also create strategies as well as plan of actions for
helping its staffs in adopting change. For this they develop proper training and
development program.
 Negotiation and Support: When change occur at respective company not all employees
get encouraged and favoured. So in this situation they conduct negotiation process and try
to convince those employees.
 Manipulation and Co- Option: Management of respective company motivate and
encourage those employees who are highly involved in change (Rebelo, Santos and Silva,
2014). In this case management provide them leading roles due to which can accomplish
its task in impressive style as well as encourage to others.

 Explicit and Implicit Coercion: In this senior authority of this organization will create
plan of action for involving employees as well as they also conduct delegation of
responsibilities according to staff's skills and knowledge.
By adopting this approaches Marks and Spencer can adopt change in successful manner
that will respective firm in achieving their target as well as goal in impressive style.
Different approaches to continuous quality improvement
Quality improvement is define as process that is generally created through a firm for
developing as well as keeping quality standard of a products and services. It is based on major
four components i.e. quality assurance, quality planning, quality improvement and quality
control (Harris and McCaffer, 2013). It will generally include various methods which are used by
an organization in order to determine and do quality improvement. In context of M & S they
adopt diverse approaches due to which respective company members can implement change in
impressive and efficient style, from which some are describe below:-
 Total Quality Management: Respective method or approach is selected by Marks and
Spencer for ensuring that its work in conduct in effective and proper quality manner. In
order to ensure standard of their cloths and other product respective company develop
proper department which check quality of products.
 Developing Benchmarking: According to this approaches respective company designers
develop proper standard or benchmark of cloths, footwear and other product and which
will have to follow by other production units that will help in ensuring quality of products
in effective manner.
By adopting these approaches Marks and Spencer can crate its products with proper
quality which attract customers and satisfy them effectively.
How leadership and management styles facilitate continuous improvement in organisations and
help to embed change
Management and leadership style of a company help them in implementing changes in
impressive style as well as this can also help staffs for conducting or adopting modification in
accordingly. In context of Marks and Spencer their leader implement Transactional leadership
and management style which help company's management in creating appropriate plan of actions
thorough which its staffs accomplish their operations and tasks in effectual manner (Leadership
& Management, 2014). Through implementing respective leadership as well as management

style respective company able to motivate employees and also encourage them to accomplish its
work in impressive style. For which they conduct various activities such as reward as well as
appraise according to performance, conduct proper delegation of authority and many more.
Along with this they also conduct training and development programmes thorough which its
staffs accomplish their operations and tasks in effective manner as well as they this will also
reduce wastage during product or operation process.
Importance of continuous improvement in supporting organisational success
For an organisation continuous improvement plan play as essential role because by it
manager as well as staffs can implement changes that helps while accomplishing work in
impressive and successful style (West and et.al., 2013). It can also help in directing as well as
accomplishing activities in effectual and efficient manner for attaining organisation goal. In
regards of M & S, its management faced various benefits of continuous improvement, from
which some major are mentioned below:-
 Enhance employees engagement: By adopting continuous improvement this
organization can enhance engagement of their staffs that will leads to accomplishment of
work in impressive mode (5 Benefits of Continuous Improvement, 2019). This will also
help them in gaining quality of work in order to enhance profitability.
 Reduce turnover rate: When respective company adopt continuous improvement they
also able to reduce employees turnover ratio and retain them for a long time duration
(Harris, 2013). This will also ensure that employees are motivated as well as satisfied
with respective company working culture and environment which help in enhancing their
quality of work.
These are some importance of continuous improvement in Marks and Spencer which will
help as well as leads to conducting activities and operations in successful manner for achieving
target and objective properly.
TASK 2
Sources of information used by organisations to help identify any improvements which are
needed
There are various source of information which is used by a company in order to analysis
need as well as requirement customers and employees. This will help manager and leader of an

organization in developing decision in effective manner that enhance their profitability ratio and
market shares. In respect of Marks and Spencer source of information which they adopt in order
to identify need and changes are mentioned below:-
 Social media: Through social media respective company able to know as well as
understand requirement and need of customers and market which help in developing
proper decision in order to adopt change accordingly (Blandford, 2012).
 Feedback and Suggestion: It is one of the effective mode of information which help in
identifying appropriate requirement and need of customers and employees. Through
which respective company able to develop strategies and plans effectively.
These are major sources which help manager and leader of Marks and Spencer to identify
proper information which help them in their decision making process.
Meaning of big data and evaluate its contribution to improvement strategies which organisations
create
Big Data is define as a extremely large set of data and information which may be in
computationally as well as it must be it must be trends, reveal patterns and associations. It is
generally related to human behaviours as well as its interactions. It is also contain high velocity
of data which will be used for resolving issues and problems of business in effective manner.
There are generally three Vs of big data which help organization in enhancing quality of
strategies that is created by a company i.e. volume, velocity and variety (Haleem and et.al.,
2012). Big data also help Marks and Spencer in developing as well as improving strategies in
effective manner, some major contribution of its is define below:-
 By adopting big data Marks and Spence able to develop strategies as well as plan which
is cost effective. This is so because it will adopt technology like Hadoop and Cloud based
analytics which help company in developing decision with low cost.
 Through this respective company also able to develop effective as well as appropriate
decision on fast and better manner. This is so because by big data company able to
analysis each and every data and information which leads to development of effective
and fast strategies.
These all factors helps Marks and Spencer able to conduct their work in effective manner
as well as it will also help in developing effective as well as appropriate plans.

Information and identify areas for improvement in the organisation
By analysing above information which is collected through several source of information
it can be determine that there are various areas where Marks and Spencer need to conduct
improvement. So that they conduct their work in effective as well as appropriate manner and this
will also help them in developing proper decision. These can be analysis through various
methods, some major of them which can be adopted by Marks and Spencer are given below:-
 Experienced Consultants: In this respect manager of Marks and Spencer must contact
with external experienced consultant so that they can analysis information in more
effective manner (Waddock and Bodwell, 2017). This will also help them in identifying
issues which can be impact during operations process.
 Systematic Errors and one off error: By adopting these method Marks and Spencer
manager able to identify problems as well as issues in effective way which may occur
during hand held devices. Along with this it will also help in developing strategies which
leads to enhancement in productivity and profitability of respective company.
By adopting these methods manager and leader of Marks and Spencer able to identify
area or activities which they need to improve in order to gain high profitability ratio and market
share at their potential market.
Potential benefits to a chosen organisation of the proposed changes in activities
By adopting change an organisation able to gaining various benefits which help them in
gaining high profitability and market shares. There are several benefits which are gain by Marks
and Spencer when they adopt change in their activities as well as procedure, from which some
major of them are given below:-
 Enhance Employees engagement: By adopting change Marks and Spencer able to
enhance employees engagement by motiving them and retaining them for long time
duration.
 Increase profitability: When respective company adopt change in their operations and
function they able to conduct their work in more effective manner which leads to
enhancement in profitability ratio along with market shares (Córdoba and Piki, 2012).
 Improve Procedure: It is one of the major benefits which is gain by Marks and Spencer
when they adopt change in their process. They able to improve productivity of employees
along with enhancing effectiveness of procedure.

These are major benefits which are gain by Marks and Spencer when they adopt changes
in their procedure as well as activities. This will also help them in gaining high profitability and
market shares.
TASK 3
Explains the changes required by the chosen organisation in order to achieve improvements
For every organization change is necessary because through it company able to develop
strategies and plans in effective manner. In respect of Marks and Spencer there are some portions
where is need of change so that they can improve their activities and attain objective properly.
From which some major of them are given below:-
 Culture of workplace: By adopting change in working culture respective company able
to motivate their employees more effectively (Boyle, 2015). Such as if they can adopt
culture like there is no time limitation of office, manager also required completed quality
work. Then in this case employees feel motivated as well as free.
 Job responsibilities and role: If manager of Marks and Spencer adopt change in job role
and responsibilities they able to provide change for employees to enhance their skills and
ability by performing diverse type of job role.
By adopting this factor changes manager and leader of Marks and Spencer able to adopt conduct
their work in more effective manner as well as it will also help them in gaining high profitability
ratio.
Factors that created need for change in this organisation
There are various factors which encourage Marks and Spencer for adopt changes so that
they develop effective products and services, from which some major of them are explain
below:-
 Technology: When there is change occur in technology then company also need to
update their process so that they can conduct work more effectively. So when change in
technology occur at market respective company update their machines or other process
accordingly (Kuhlang and et.al., 2013).
 Trends: If there is change occur at market trends Marks and Spencer need to adopt it so
that they can develop cloths, footwear and other products according to requirement as

well as need of customers. This will also help them in developing and designing
production in effective manner.
These are some major factors which encourage Marks and Spencer manager as well as
leader for adopting change at their workplace.
Prepare a plan which will implement the proposed improvements for the organisation
Marks and Spencer adopt procedure which help them in adopting change in effective
manner so that they work properly and effectively. Analysis of respective procedure is given
below:-
 Planning: At this stage Marks and Spencer conduct analysis in order to identify
requirement then accordingly they will conduct planning of strategies.
 Documentation: At respective stage company will conduct documentation of whole
process so that they get proper work plan (Grol and et.al., 2013).
 Communication: After developing document company will conduct communication
stage at which they inform their stakeholder, clients, customers and employee about the
change.
 Development of criteria: At this stage manager will develop benchmark which they
have to follow while conducting process.
 Setting Timescale and policies: At this manager of respective company will develop
proper timescale and policies and then they will conduct their work accordingly.
 Implementation: At this stage manager of Marks and Spencer will implement the whole
procedure so that they adopt change in effective manner.
By adopting these method of process respective company able to adopt changes in
effective manner.
Analyses monitoring processes required to ensure changes lead to the planned improvements
There are several ways which are adopted by an organisation in order to ensure that
change which they adopt will conduct improvement in their process. For which Marks and
Spencer adopt method that is given below:-
 Analysing and Monitoring: At this manager and leader of respective company will
conduct analysis that they conduct work in effective manner or not and this will monitor
through outcome of change (Tapping and Shuker, 2018).

 Take Feedback: At this stage manager and leader of Marks and Spencer will take
feedback as well as suggestion from their employees and stakeholder in order to
determine factors at which they can conduct changes.
 Measure performance: At this stage Marks and Spencer leader will conduct
measurement of performance. This will be done through past and current which is after
adopting change (Ates and et.al., 2013). By this they able to identify effectiveness of
change at particular organisation.
By conduct this procedure Marks and Spencer manager able to analysis that they adopt
change in effective manner.
CONCLUSION
By analysing above discussed point it can be conclude as well as analysis that for every
company continuous improvement is necessary because through it they able to adopt changes in
effective manner. By adopting change company also able to conduct as well as accomplish their
work in appropriate and efficient manner. In this culture of an organisation plays an essential role
because it will help company as well as its employees in adopting change in effective manner.
Along with this there are several approaches which can be adopted by a company in order to
adopt changes such as Kotter and Schlesinger and many more. There are also various technology
which are adopted by a company like big data which will help them in develop effective and
essential strategies related to change.