Report: Business Context, Leadership, and Management at Sainsbury's

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Sainsbury's, a prominent UK-based supermarket chain, examining its business context, leadership styles, and management practices. The report begins with an introduction to business context and its importance, followed by a detailed overview of Sainsbury's company background, including its history, market share, and financial performance. It then delves into Sainsbury's vision, mission, leadership styles, and management practices, highlighting how these elements contribute to the company's success. The analysis includes an examination of the implementation of these practices, such as communication strategies, staff training, and performance monitoring, and how they are applied to achieve organizational goals. The report also explores the management strategies employed, focusing on motivation, rewards, and decision-making processes. Finally, it offers recommendations for future improvements, suggesting strategies to enhance performance and efficiency. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and insights gained from the analysis of Sainsbury's business operations.

Context of Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Company Background.............................................................................................................1
2. Vision of the Sainsbury company, leadership style and management practices in the
organisation.................................................................................................................................2
3. How this achieved and implement in Sainsbury ....................................................................4
4.Recommendation for future improvement ..............................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Context of the business is the process or method to analyse the environment of the
business in which the business is being operated. This is very important aspect of the business
planning which scanned the entire business environment as a whole internally and externally.
This business context include the background, environment, framework, setting, situations of the
business and analyse these all, that helps the business to run and sustain for a longer time (vom
Brocke, Zelt and Schmiedel, 2016). This study is based on the Sainsbury company which is UK
based supermarket retail company. Sainsbury is the third largest supermarket chain in the UK.
The study will include the background of the Sainsbury company and the reason of
choosing this company. This will also cover the vision-mission, leadership style and
management practices of the sainsbury's company which help it to achieve its goals. Further
more this study will also include, how the Sainsbury implemented these styles and practices into
reality to achieve the objectives. And the last this report will include some recommendations that
company can adapt and make changes and improvements to accomplish all the goals.
MAIN BODY
1. Company Background
Sainsbury is the third largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom with 16.9% share
of the supermarket sector. Sainsbury is founded in the year of 1869, by John James in Dury
Lane, London and it become the largest retailer of groceries in 1922. holding company, J
Sainsbury plc is split into three divisions: Sainsbury Supermarket Ltd, Sainsbury Bank and
Sainsbury Argos. The head office the company is in sainsbury's support centre in Holborn Circle,
city of London. Sainsbury started their business as the retailer of the fresh foods and later it
expanded its business into packaged groceries such as tea, sugar and many more. Sainsbury
designed its outdate shop's look in the same manner so as to people could recognise the shop
easily (Aluko and Knight, 2017).
Sainsbury has 1415 shops of hypermarket/superstore, supermarket, convenience shop and
forecourt shops across the UK. And it has 186,900 employees who are working with the
Sainsbury and help it to achieve its overall organisational goals. The revenue of the company in
the year of 2018 was £28.456 billion and the operating income of the Sainsbury company was
£518 million and the net income of the company was £309 million in the year of 2018. As of the
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February 2018 the largest o0verall shareholder is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar which holds
the 21.99% of the company and it is also listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Rational
The main reason of choosing this Sainsbury company is that because it has faced
different level of ups and down in the business but after that it gives the toughest competition to
their competition and become the third largest supermarket chain of the UK. The revenue of the
company in the year of 2018 was £28.456 billion and the operating income of the Sainsbury
company was £518 million and the net income of the company was £309 million in the year of
2018. And in the year of 2014 Sainsbury become the first retailer by converting the food wastage
into bio-methane gas to generating electricity (Aluko and Knight, 2017). And the another reason
of choosing this Sainsbury is, its effective management strategies and leadership that helps the
Sainsbury to providing best quality food at the best value of the customers and achieving the
overall organisational goal.
2. Vision of the Sainsbury company, leadership style and management practices in the
organisation
Vision and mission of the Sainsbury company is to become the most trusted retailer of
the UK and also across the world, where the people love to work and shop. And provide
everything to their customers and colleagues and channels the best possible shopping experience.
And support the environment by sustainable development goals and also offer the great
economic opportunities to the country that they can make the strong commercial sense. And also
helps their customers by providing healthy food and improving their quality of life.
Values of the Sainsbury company helps the company to strengthen the relationship with
all its stakeholders, build trust, reducing the operating cost, eliminate the risk and attract the
talented pool in the market place (Black and Spain, 2018).
Management practices
These are the practices which is usually refers to the methods of working and innovations where
managers are used to improve and built the efficiency of the members and it also motivates the
members of the Sainsbury. Management practices used by the leaders and mangers for helping
the member's for doing better work and increasing the productivity of the company. Sainsbury is
customer oriented firm which mainly focuses on the practices which is used for making the long
term relationships. The practices are generally focuses on providing the best quality products and
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services to the customers and adopted the policies for continues improvements related to the
customers services and developing skills for meeting the needs of the customers.
Communication:- As the management practices is all about communicating with employees and
customers of the Sainsbury. Communication is the first and foremost practices of the
management where it should clear and make effective communication for the clients and staffs.
From effective communication is the major tool which help in the success of the Sainsbury.
Manger of the company must go on for using the best and good skills for communicating with
the employees whereas the roles and responsibilities are clear (Lubberink and et.al, 2017).
Training staff:- The second management practices is to provided the good and better training
for the staff. So that employees perform in better ways and also working in the right directions.
Performance monitor:- it is system for monitoring the programs and monitors various activities
for monitoring the performance of the employees and rate them accordingly. It also tries to
motivate employees of Sainsbury and also work them effectively in so many ways (Paulraj, Chen
and Blome, 2017).
Responsibility:- This type of management practices helps to motivate and encourage the
employees to take the initiate task. It also helps to build the trust and loyalty between mangers
and employees and helping in achieving the task and get the best results of it in Sainsbury
(Zhang and et.al, 2016).
Management strategies
Management strategies provided the motivation and encouragement of the employees
and it is far efficient for the work and all the work as been done in the efficient ways. There are
mainly 3 strategies which used by the mangers for motivating, rewarding and decision making;
Motivation and rewards – The first management strategies is that it is important to motivate the
employees so that they work in more efficient and effective way. Motivation is very important in
the Sainsbury as it helping for achievement of the organization for runing in the better direction
and also rewards plays a major role in success of the organization as employees work hard to
attain the goals of the business (Raghunath and Rose, 2017).
Decision making process:- In this management strategy it has been used by the manger to
involve and includes the employees for helping in the decision making process and it is more
beneficial for the Sainsbury taking the innovation and new ideas by employees which helps in
the decision making process of the process and improves the process of company as well.
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3. How this achieved and implement in Sainsbury
The leadership style , management practices and management strategies are implemented
by the company plays a major role in the organisation and also working of the company. To
achieve the goals and objective of the company it is important to implement the style and
practices in the positive manner. These practices and style helps the company to increase the
productivity of the company and also help the organisation to work in the right direction and also
help to motivate the employees so that they work hard for the organisation (Bititci, Cocca and
Ates, 2016).
In Sainsbury leaders implements the democratic style as it is one of the effective
leadership style and it is most use by the leaders. It helps to improve the efficiency of Sainsbury.
In these style leaders give the chance to the subordinates to take part in the decision making
process. This style helps Sainsbury to improve its decision making and also subordinates have
the platform to share their innovative and creative skills so that employees will feel that they are
the important part of the organisation. And this style facilitates coordination as the members are
free to share the ideas and also the conflict among the member decreases (Donate and de Pablo,
2015). It will help Sainsbury to the large extent as their will be smooth flow in the organisation
and subordinates become more loyal for the organisation and more hard-working about the
target. For example if company feels tart employees are more expert in particular field then it
will involve the members for the decision making process. It also makes the team or group more
comfortable in overcoming the barrier which they feel in their growth of the business.
Sainsbury uses communication as management practices . Effective communication helps
the company to conduct its business it more efficient manner (Albrecht and et.al, 2015). By using
effective communication by the manager it will help the subordinates to have clear structure of
the management. The manager of the Sainsbury uses this practices as it gives fewer chances of
conflict in the organisation and also it increases the productivity of the company. By the help of
effective communication the coordination between the employees increases . And the employees
of the company are very clear about the policies and procedures of the organisation (Yahaya and
Ebrahim, 2016).
Sainsbury uses motivation and rewards as the most effective strategies. As motivation
plays a important role in the success of the organisation. As motivated subordinated give their
hundred percent in achieving the target of the company. Sainsbury can motivate its subordinate
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by both monetary and non- monetary benefits. By the help of motivation the employees show
more interest in the goals of the business. And by giving recognition to the employees for their
achievement they will feel that they are important for the organisation.
4.Recommendation for future improvement
Sainsbury is one of the leading retail industry because of its leadership style that impose
by the leaders and management practices and strategies which are imposed by the members.
Effective style and management practices and strategies helps the business to run in the right
direction and work in more effective and efficient way. But there are some recommendation or
suggestion that the company use so that the performance and efficiency will also improve and by
the help of recommendation company will easily and quickly achieve the objective of the
company.
It is recommended for the Sainsbury to use autocratic leadership style as there is very
clear rules and regulation for the company. And also as all the major decision are taken by the
leaders then it will be more easy for the organisation to make decision and also there will be no
conflict in the organisation.
It is recommended to performance monitor as a management practices so to monitor the
performance of the employee and give them feedback about their performance so that
performance of the employees increases and also appreciate the employees if they perform
better.
It is recommanded for the Sainsbury to involve the employees in the decision making
process so that employees feels more important in the organisation and also their will be
improvement in the decision making process and also employees have the chance to share their
innovative and creative skills .
CONCLUSION
Present study will conclude that the manager and leader has playing vital role in the organization.
Leader and manger uses so many styles and management practices for doing better work in the
company. As it concludes that leadership styles is most effective decision taken by the leader. It
will conclude that the communication in the practices of the management is very effective for
improving and corresponding the working environment of the business. Furthermore, there are so
many recommendations for improving the performance of the organization.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Albrecht and et.al., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices and
competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness:
People and Performance. 2(1). pp.7-35.
Aluko, O. and Knight, H., 2017. From corner store to superstore: a historical analysis of
Sainsbury’s co-evolution. Journal of Management History. 23(4). pp.423-435.
Anderson, M.H. and Sun, P.Y., 2017. Reviewing leadership styles: Overlaps and the need for a
new ‘full‐range’theory. International Journal of Management Reviews. 19(1). pp.76-96.
Bititci, U., Cocca, P. and Ates, A., 2016. Impact of visual performance management systems on
the performance management practices of organisations. International Journal of
Production Research, 54(6). pp.1571-1593.
Black, L. and Spain, T., 2018. How Self-Service Happened: The Vision and Reality of Changing
Market Practices in Britain. In Imagining Britain’s Economic Future, c. 1800–1975(pp.
159-180). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Donate, M.J. and de Pablo, J.D.S., 2015. The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in
knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research. 68(2).
pp.360-370.
Lubberink and et.al., 2017. A framework for responsible innovation in the business context:
lessons from responsible-, social-and sustainable innovation. In Responsible Innovation
3 (pp. 181-207). Springer, Cham.
Paulraj, A., Chen, I.J. and Blome, C., 2017. Motives and performance outcomes of sustainable
supply chain management practices: A multi-theoretical perspective. Journal of Business
Ethics, 145(2), pp.239-258.
Raghunath, S. and Rose, E.L., 2017. International business in the context of emerging markets.
In International Business Strategy (pp. 1-14). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
vom Brocke, J., Zelt, S. and Schmiedel, T., 2016. On the role of context in business process
management. International Journal of Information Management .36(3). pp.486-495.
Yahaya, R. and Ebrahim, F., 2016. Leadership styles and organizational commitment: literature
review. Journal of Management Development. 35(2). pp.190-216.
Zhang and et.al., 2016. Working context for business applications. U.S. Patent 9,230,242.
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Online
Define the Business Context.2019.[Online].Available
through<https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180201006534/en/Define-Business-
Context-Needed-Complete-Strategic-Initiatives>
Our vision.2019.[Online].Available through<https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/about-us/our-
vision>
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