management

Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course Title
Date
Management
Strategy and Planning
Strategy and planning are two twin concepts. While these two are not synonymous, they imply the process that can be taken by Marks and Spencer to look into the future and identify trends, as well as issues against which they align the organizational priorities for the organization. Within the organization and stores, it implies the process of alignment of units, teams, sections or even functions to higher level strategies. For Marks and Spencer, it appears that their approach is all about attaining the organizational goal most efficiently and effectively. Moreover, the plan is all about meeting the mission in a comparatively better manner compared to other companies (which is essentially competition).
The information transmitted from the case study is that strategic planning entails the process involved in understanding the consumer challenges, issues, and trends. This planning also consists of getting familiar with stakeholders identified as clients and their needs and determining the most efficient and effective way of meeting their needs (Roney 58). From the onset, it is crucial to hold a premise that a good strategy translates to focus, which in turn leads to accountability and results. Each store carries the strategic plans developed by the company, which act as a guide towards the delivery of the business objective and in directing the streams of work at the organization. Sub-entities of Marks and Spencer seem to have been given the leeway to create compatible strategies which depend on the magnitude and the operational focus.

Smaller teams within the stores may not need to create their strategies, but it appears that there are situations that can warrant small groups to think strategically, in which case, they are forced to follow best practices that drive and structure their strategic thinking processes.
Ideally, the strategy should integrate, speed-up and connect to the organization’s planning process, as it provides inputs to the company’s planning process through the strategic framework model. The strategic framework regularly captures the business objectives, the expected accomplishments, and indicators of achievement set by the general managers as well as other managers, which is the strategic plan.
Strategic plans integrate with operational planning efforts. Operational planning specifies the specific short-term objectives, outcomes, and process of the entity. At an individual level, it is crucial to customize strategic planning tools and methods to an individual’s role and position. Planning and thinking strategically at a personal level demands similar inputs, approaches that develop the capacity of the business to participate in the planning efforts for teams and high-level entities (Sminia 19). Theoretically, strategic plans begin by the identification of issues, problems, and developments that are likely to shape and influence the organizational strategy (Sminia 87).
The outcome of such input gathering is often referred to as environmental evaluation and can take the form of collecting data from customers through their product preferences, complaints, opinions and amongst others. It is critically important for the organization to gather information that relates to the target clients. Such data is critical in helping the company when it is identifying and understanding their clients. Consequently, this helps the organization characterize the desired outcomes which would occur from the products they provide (Barton 164). After looking at outward dynamics of the firm, it would be essential to acknowledge the internal undercurrents pivotal towards developing an understanding of the problems facing Mark and Spencer, and other factors that can affect its strategy.
Issues such as the capacity of the store to deliver the company’s products, core competencies and business processes, staffing, and financial resources are essential. Perhaps, the SWOT analysis method can provide a better way of evaluating the internal aspects of Marks and Spencer’s typical store. The SWOT analysis is a summary of the perception of a regular store’s domestic constituency, such as leadership and staff, concerning the inner strengths of a store, the internal weaknesses, opportunities and threats which should be considered. Internally, Mark and Spencer’s greatest strength is its continued exploitation of the formula that has led to immense success over the years. The company appears to be protecting what it is good at, as well as their formula. A weakness might be manifested in the new formulas that they have not yet mastered, which might lead to massive success in the future (Barton 47). Opportunities refer to the actions that the management must take advantage of to help the organization, and these include complaints and opinions of customers. The company’s administration must defend these opportunities to protect the organization and cover issues such as complacency.
Organization
The form of organizational structure at Marks and Spencer’s is hierarchical, and the following features typify this organization: comparatively a small number of managers control the organization, fewer employees are under the control of every manager; the management style appears to be direct. Another attribute that defines this organizational structure is that its structure relates to the shape of a pyramid. Marks and Spencer is a mature organization, but still has unlimited space for development and capacity. The level of Marks and Spencer’s organization has a direct influence on its structure. All the managers need to work with the other leaders of the company to guarantee that the structure can expand and grow together with the broader company’s mission, staff, and policies (Ghuman 244). A mature company such as Marks and Spencer is known for horizontal planning, consolidation, feedback, and monitoring at high levels.
The organizational structure needs to be elastic with enough room to provide space for more growth and expansion, while an improvement of the systems will make roles and work in the organization to appear more efficient and possibly reduce the need for an unyielding and ordered structure. A reevaluation of the growth of the organization needs to be orderly so that newer structural aspects can be executed within the organization (Rees and Christine 54). Job specifications are vital resources for the staff and the management alike. Take the example of Mark and Spencer’s managers; their job specifications put more clarity on assignment to positions in the organizational structure (Jain 19). Such placements are often done devoid of due consideration to guarantee that levels of leadership, responsibilities, tasks, and reporting can be efficient and at the same time contribute to the attainment of the firm’s objectives and goals in a specific position.
A job specification should be considered as a tool that is used in the preparation of performance standards and during the process of conducting performance evaluations. Job specification can also be useful for other innumerable management function such as the process of hiring, training, supervision, familiarization, workplace accommodation and contractual commitment concerning employment. For the members of staff, job specification provides more clarity to their functions, determination, control, and duties. They spell out the experience, skills, training, and perhaps other special abilities that members of the staff should be possessing. Management channels that members of the staff report are outlined. For a large organization such as Marks and Spencer, job specification might include issues to do with grades and promotion.
A suitable structure is one where the organizational relationships are defined. Two tools often provide the best way of ensuring that this is done: organograms and job specifications. Interactions and linkages are among the different planes within the firm are essential to the process of making decisions, development, and execution. Organizational relationships can also point to other tasks and linkages that are appraised and the manner in which resources of the company are allocated and shared. Informal and formal relationships are information towards the attainment of the organizational objectives. A good manager should be able to differentiate the two links and ensure that the staff under his supervision is monitored so that they are working harmoniously for the greater benefit of the organization (Martin 262). Also, the active management should reinforce proper connections and intervene when necessary to enhance worsening at their respective levels.
There are elements of organizational linkages that can go above programs and structures. Ties are enabled when the management possess useful verbal and non-verbal skills and is considered to be impartial and accountable towards the process of making decisions.
The bottom-line for a Marks and Spencer’s store is that change is a complicated process, and possibly, it can be disruptive too. The general manager should not consider numerous variations to the structure (Becker, Martin and Michael 43). The general manager must take to documenting a cost-benefit analysis of a structural change and building consensus with the management team when change is necessary. After the change has occurred, job specifications and organizational chart should be reevaluated to guarantee that they are a reflection of the changes. However, the two should be elastic enough to accommodate the changes and growth, which in turn reduces the number of times that revisions are needed.
The top management at the Marks and Spencer is involved in the monitoring of strategy and plans. While the general procedures developed by the senior management cover all organizational activities that should be followed. Also, the top management develops manuals on training mechanisms. After a careful inventory of the relationships at the organization, which include the programs and objectives, it is apparent that the current structure is hierarchical and pyramidal.

Figure 1: Organizational Structure at a Marks and Spencer’s store
Leadership
The process of identifying and isolating a finite set of leadership styles and traits that are appropriate when choosing and advancing interests for the business appear to a difficult task. Often this theory arises from the supposition that there are people who are innate to leaders and would ordinarily perform well based solely on their personalities. Well-rounded leaders are known to possess high levels of intelligence, appropriate knowledge, communication skills, sociability and enthusiasm (Rice 76). However, none of these factors are necessary alone in serving as the foundation for the specifications or through the growth of high-quality leadership.
Stogdill (5) identified the following traits to be appropriate for leadership: strong drive for responsibility, a focus on the completion of tasks, vibrant and persistent pursuit of goals, as well as problem-solving skills. Other traits are an effort to execute inventiveness in familiar settings, confidence, ability to have a feeling of identity, readiness to accept impacts of conclusions and choices, willingness to engage interactive pressure, and the capability to influence behavior in others. The ability to organize social structures for the purpose that exist at hand is another trait.
A different consideration to trait approach might involve consideration on what leaders do, compared to the underlying characteristics. In this new approach, one considers that the leadership style is as a result of influences that arise from a person’s assumptions about human nature. While some theorists have often relied on the Hobbesian interpretation of human life to warrant control and coercion to be the only tools that make people work. However, recent theorists have affirmed that the outlay of physical and emotional power in work is just as authentic as rest or play and that ordinarily, human beings under suitable circumstances learn, accept, and pursue responsibility (Gill 311). Leaders who fall under the second category will seek to improve the capacity of their employees through high levels of ingenuity, imagination, and creativity in providing solutions to problems that arise at the organizational level. It is easy to see that leaders that hold different assumptions can demonstrate unique approaches to leadership, such that in the first case, the leader will be identified as autocratic, while in the second, the style is classified as participative.
The managerial grid model can provide another angle through which one can look at leadership and management. The model concentrates on task and employee familiarization of the administration and an amalgamation of the two. The theory posits that team management is, in fact, the most effective form of leadership behavior. Even though behavioral models of leadership discussed varying leadership styles, they provided little guidance on the factors that constituted effective leadership behaviors in diverse circumstances. Authorities on leadership models suggest that no single leadership approach is right for all times (Detert and Ethan, 881). Situational theories indicate that a technique that is used depends on different factors such as circumstance, tasks, people, the organization and other variables.
There is no one formula of leadership; instead, the leadership style should be chosen depending on the situation. At Marks and Spencer, leaders who are task oriented might be appropriate towards the realization of the more significant organizational objectives. A task-oriented leader focuses on the task at hand; perhaps, they do better circumstances that have good leader-employee relationships, with structured tasks and job specifications and have reliable position power. A task-oriented leader might also perform well when the tasks are unstructured with a strong position power (Marginson 1030). A vital factor is for leaders who can adapt their styles to specific situations as needed. The developmental level of employees has the most considerable influence on the appropriate and particular style of leadership. Hence, as the experience and maturity of employees increase, a leader needs to adapt their task-relationship style from directing to delegating.
For the organization, the leaders in the company should be able to balance tasks, teams, and individuals, as well as their needs. An active leader takes control of the operations and behaviors of the job, group, and individual, but varying the degree of attention that the individual pays to each according to the circumstance. Overall, the concept of transformational leadership has been very impactful in leadership theories that there is no definition of the effective and efficient leader that is devoid of the transformational aspect. Transformational leadership happens in such a way that people interact with each other in a manner that a leader and their subordinates improve each other levels of morality and motivation.
Controls
Organizational control consists of the specifications of corporate standards that are important when aligning the actions of employees with the objectives of the company and activities such as providing rewards and monitoring the degree to which such measures are satisfied. For Marks and Spencer, formal control system depends on the documented rules formally developed and are often executed by managers. However, informal controls are founded on the principles that are often implemented by the employees. Moreover, there are various control targets. For instance, outcome controls are aimed at meeting objectives and outcomes, while process controls are related to the compliance with practices and the normative controls are aimed towards value compliance amongst the staff.
The goal of a control practice is ideally considered to guarantee that employees provide information that is appropriate to performance standards and to address unbecoming behaviors and encourage efficient performance. Controls often allow employees to handle circumstances that involve both risks and dependencies by providing predictability and protection against randomness through the practical application of stable and familiar rules (Vaccaro et al. 33). Controls are the essential foundations for feedback processes and leaning, and the regularity that they provide can be perceived as a type of technical justice. Controls allow harmonization and communication within the organization as they relate to specific objectives and specific rules of engagement.
It implies that the workforce understands better what is required of them and what their roles and team roles entail. This makes it simple for them to perform their tasks as needed. Moreover, the sense of shared goals and capability of cooperation induced by control processes that are likely useful work practices among the staff. The effects of controls on performance, can, in reality, be indirect, such controls enable communication, synchronization, organizational objectives, feedback, leaning and trust throughout the firm. Marks and Spencer’s output control concentrates on the results, products, and services that the workforce provides.
The output controls practice entail establishing pre-stated formal targets and the use of information systems that enable monitoring of whether goals are met and if the rewards and support are linked to the attainment of objectives. For instance, in Marks and Spencer, product development consists of budgets, functional requirements, contractual agreements and the final product. It is expected that the output controls have a positive effect on organizational performance because of goal definition and since they provide necessary feedback for the workers. The firm belief that organizations offer accountability and dependability in a process that would otherwise render workers vulnerable is anticipated to improve organizational motivation; consequently, a motivated employee contributes to the organization through higher performances.
Process controls to shape the manner in which employees do their jobs, which is the manner in which standardized procedures are implemented. Process controls comprise of the drawing of the process and the guidelines that concern the way in which the staff should be doing their jobs, and it monitors how the procedures and guidelines are implemented and rewards as well as support practices. For instance, a customer service employee at Marks and Spencer can be given pre-stated information to use when interacting with customers. The respective manager can monitor the employee on metrics, including customer satisfaction rates, professionalism, and a demonstration of interest in the customer, information which can be used by the manager when conducting performance appraisal purposes.
Process controls, when considered to be helpful and professional, can aid employees to perceive the organization as trustworthy since such process controls offer support to the staff in their day to day work. For example, such commands allow harmonization between various employees, and hence solidify the reliability of cooperation within the organization (Marginson 1026). Such alignment is possible to enable the task performance and help honesty towards the members of a team. Process controls also contribute to more consistency by a clarification of expectations and differentiating between what is accepted and not accepted, which reassures employees of the integrity of the firm. When employees’ time is freed from the pursuit of right and wrong and involvements in protective measures, employees’ time is used in focusing on the organization in positive ways.
On a more realistic level, when employees see process controls that are important in reducing errors, this can help them do their jobs better and hence affect their performance. Also, it can also assure them of the capability of the organization, sanctioning trust that motivates work effectiveness and honesty. Thus, adequately executed process controls are likely to strengthen employees’ commitment to the organization, and consequently, their readiness to contribute through task performance.
Works Cited
Barton, Sidney L. Strategic Management Simplified: What Every Manager Needs to Know about Strategy and how to Manage it. iUniverse, 2010.
Becker, Jörg, Martin Kugeler, and Michael Rosemann, eds. Process Management: A Guide for The Design of Business Processes. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013.
Detert, James R., and Ethan R. Burris. “Leadership Behavior and Employee Voice: Is the Door really Open?” Academy of Management Journal, vol. 50, no. 4, 2007, pp. 869-884.
Ghuman, Karminder. Management: Concepts, Practice & Cases. Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2010.
Gill, Roger. “Change Management–or Change Leadership?” Journal of Change Management, vol. 3, no. 4, 2002, pp. 307-318.
Jain, N. K. Organisational Behaviour Vo. 1. Vol. 1. Atlantic Publishers & Dist, 2005.
Marginson, David EW. “Management Control Systems and their Effects on Strategy Formation at Middle‐Management Levels: Evidence from a UK Organization.” Strategic Management Journal, vol. 23, no. 11, 2002, pp. 1019-1031.
Martin, John. Organizational Behaviour and Management. Cengage Learning EMEA, 2005.
Rees, W. David, and Christine Porter. The Skills of Management. Cengage Learning EMEA, 2001.
Rice, A. L., ed. The Enterprise and its Environment: A System Theory of Management Organization. Vol. 10. Routledge, 2013
Roney, Curtis W. Strategic Management Methodology: Generally Accepted Principles for Practitioners. No. 1. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004.
Sminia, Harry. The Strategic Manager. Routledge, 2017.
Stogdill, Ralph M. Handbook of Leadership: A Survey of Theory and Research. New York, NY, US: Free Press, 1974.
Vaccaro, Ignacio G., et al. “Management Innovation and Leadership: The Moderating Role of Organizational Size.” Journal of Management Studies, vol. 49, no. 1, 2012, pp. 28-51.