Management and Leadership at Marks & Spencer Assignment Answer

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Introduction : A Comprehensive Study on Management, Leadership, Conflict, and Negotiation in the Context of Marks & Spencer

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Large number of individuals work in an enterprise for achieve a common goal and objective. It is very important that there must be effective management at workplace as this help firm in utilise all resources to an optimum level. Leaders are the one which play a role in overall success and growth of company as these are the one who encourage and persuade staff members to perform well. M&S (Marks&Spencer), a multinational retailer which deals home, clothes, food and variety of other products is taken under this report for study (Alfes and et. al.2013). Leadership and management, conflicts and negotiation is all given in this report. In addition to this, various styles of leadership which can be opt by leaders of M&S in order to guide employees is also detailed in this.

Management and leadership

Large number of individuals thinks that leadership and management are the same thing. But this is not, one have to understand that leadership is very component of effective management. Moreover, leadership is known as the art of motivating a group of individual to perform well so they can contribute more in success and growth of M&S (Marks&Spencer) company. Main aim of leadership is to encourage staff members to find new ways to complete a work and create a environment in which every workers can develop his skills. However, leadership is define as one of the most important component to influence individuals and groups towards achievement of final goals and objectives (Burnard and Bhamra, 2011). Basically management is known as managing all resources, activities, operations and human resources of enterprise in a way so company can achieve its set goals and objectives. This consists planning of future activities of business in which manager decide future actions of company. One of the main benefit of this is that it help organisation in utilise all its resources to an optimum level which bring efficiency in production process.

Management refers to the process of bring coordination among various business functions and activities so company can achieve its set goals and objectives easily and all employees can perform their duties in an effective manner. Popular definition of management indicate that the art of getting thing done through others is known as management. Main activities and functions which an enterprise perform during process of management includes planning, organising, directing, controlling and leading (Nelson and Quick, 2013). Management is known as one of the most essential component behind existence and success of every business organisation.

Manager is known as the individual who remain responsible for bring coordination among various business activities and to do performance evaluation of various workers. To achieve set goals , it is very essential for M&S to have a strong management and for achieve the same it is very important that manager of enterprise should be skilled and capable. Management is used by enterprises to increase efficiency of various business activities (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). One of the main aim of every company is earn huge amount of profits and for this, it is very significant to mange money, quality, quantity, price and budget to execute production process in an effective and cheapest way. Further, organisations require to manage money, men, material, method and market. Manager is the one who manage all this in firm and ensure management at workplace.

Management is intangible in nature as everybody know that it exist but can not touch. Basically, it is a administration which help M&S (Marks&Spencer) company in utilise all resources at an optimum level and achievement of end goals and objectives. This develop leadership skills in an individual and helps in process of career development. It is something which required at every level of company (Hayes, 2014). Main characteristics of engagement are as follows:

It is a purposeful activity.
It helps in getting things done through others in an effective manner.
It is related with decision making process of company.
It concerns with the efforts which an individual do in enterprise.
It is a process which consists functions such as planning, organising, directing, leading and controlling.
It is both science and art. It is art because it consists application of knowledge for find solutions of critical business problem. It is science because various laws and principles are used and developed under this (Gruman and Saks, 2011).
This is dynamic in nature as it adapts itself as per the changing conditions of business.

Effective management leads to optimum utilisation of all business resources including financial, human resources, technical and many more. It is very essential that there must be effective management at M&S as this ensure effective execution of various business operations and at the same time increase profits of company. In addition to this, effective management provide competitive advantage to enterprise and help in capture a large market share.

Leadership is refers to the skill of encourage employees to perform well. In today's business environment it is very important for an individual to have this skill as this help in both personal and professional development of person. A leader is known as the one who inspire and guide staff members to achieve set specific goal (Pryke and Smyth,2012). Leaders play an important in overall success of a company as these are the one who encourage staff members of M&S (Marks&Spencer) company to perform well which increase both profits and productivity of company. One of the main role of a leader is to create, build and maintain a effective team in organisation. For becomes a good and effective leader, it is very significant for an individual to have good interpersonal and communication skills as this play a big role in persuade an individual (Collings, Scullion and Vaiman, 2011). Large number of theories, models and concepts are there related with leadership. Effective leadership not only enhance employee's performance but at the same time increase their commitment and morale towards their jobs. It is very important for M&S to have an effective leadership as this help firm in retain skilled and capable employees for long period of time. Various style of leadership are there which can be use by leaders of M&S to manage group of individuals. Major styles of leadership can be better understood by following points:

Autocratic leadership: Under this style of leadership, leader is the one who take decision without participation of any employee and workers are the one who remain responsible to follow the same otherwise they will get punish. This style of leadership is effective only some particular areas for example in situation of an emergency (del Mar Alonso-Almeida and RodrÃguez-AntÃ³n, 2011). One of the main disadvantage of this style of leadership is that it demotivate workers.
Democratic style of leadership: This style of leadership is also known as participative style of leadership as under this employees are encourage to participate in decision making process ( Farndale, Hope-Hailey, and Kelliher,2011). Time consuming is one of the biggest disadvantage of this style of leadership but at the same time this ensure development of various skills and abilities in employees.
Free reign style of leadership: This is another style of leadership in which leader grant all his power to the followers and does not take part in decision making process. One of the main feature of this is that it motivate employees and develop various type of skills in them (Biron, Farndale and Paauwe,2011).

All these are the main styles of leadership which can be use by the leaders of M&S in order to manager group of individuals and to encourage them to perform well. It is very important that right style of leadership must be choose by leader so they can contribute more in overall success and growth of enterprise.

Both, management and leadership are one of the most significant part of every business enterprise. Leadership is very essential for effective management and to achieve end goals and objectives. Both management and leadership are different from each other but there is a strong relationship between these two. Overall management ensure and help in manage every activity of business and leadership provide support in the same.

It is very essential that culture of enterprise should be powerful as this helps in give shapes to attitude and behaviour of employees (Guest, 2011 ). Corporate culture of M&S is inflexible, resistant and rigid to change because it was felt that company has achieved success so there is no need to change. But when it was come that old culture of firm was unable to cope up changing demands then top managers decided a major revamp. As a result of this, workers became less resistant to change and began to embrace new things for execute business operations.

One of the main quality of leaders of M&S is that they encourage employee's participation in decision making process (Spector and Fox, 2010). This boost up confidence level of workers and at the same time develop their skills and make them able to handle and manage complex situations at workplace. In order to better achieve business objectives in an effective way, it is very essential for leaders to formulate and use effective strategies for control a group of individual and to maximise their contribution in success of company.Â

Conflict and Negotiation:

Conflict creates when employees have different opinions on same matter. It can be defined ad the process which starts when one party act differently what other party thinks. Therefore it is essentially required for M&S (Marks&Spencer) company to manage such conflicts arises at workplace so that it cannot negatively affect the business activities as well as performance of an organisation (Israil, Ahmad and Fontaine, 2011). There are different types of conflict such as Intra-personal conflict, interpersonal conflict and intergroup conflict.

Types of conflicts:

Intra-personal conflict: This type of conflict occur when person perform on their own without following any guidelines and procedure given by an organisation (Argote, 2011). For example In order to deal with customers, a sales manager has either follow company's rules and guidelines or perform according to their own as per the needs of the customers. If a sales manager of M&S (Marks&Spencer) company perform their own without following any company's guidelines then it will damage the relationship with company but at the same time he will improve relationship with customers. On the other hand if a sales manager perform according to the rules and guidelines of company then it may disappoint to customers. Therefore it is important for an manager to think broadly and act in such a way that will improves sales result.
Interpersonal conflict: This types of conflict arises within an organisation between Board of Director or CEOs etc. and occur in any level of company. It can also arises when one person disturb with the actions of another in order to achieve a goal. Mostly disappoint members should resign from the company due to such conflicts (Nicholas, Rowlands and Jamali,2010). For example, disappointment among shareholders for not getting importance in business activities of an organisation.
Intergroup conflict: This conflict arises among different groups at workplace. It can be occur in between different departments of M&S (Marks&Spencer) company, their management and employees etc. This type of conflict creates bad impact on the overall performance of an organisation (Farndale and et. al, 2011). Example of such conflict are dissatisfaction of employees regarding their salaries or conflict among departments related with the marketing or equipment budget etc.

Potential causes of conflicts:

Organisational structure: The company follows an organisational structure may also created conflict. For example if a company follow matrix structure as an organisational structure then the conflict may arise related to the decision making process (Odetunde, 2013).
Employees' Benefits differentiation: When an employee doesn't get extra benefit or resources as compared to other employees will bring dissatisfaction and thus cause conflict. For example if a sales manager received a car from company due to its position then it will create big conflicts in an organisation (Triana, GarcÃa and Colella, 2010). Employees attains same position in company receives different salaries can also cause conflict.
Communication problem: Top authority of company if not getting any replies or feedback from the employees will create a conflict among between them. Therefore lack of communication between different departments can lead to conflict which can adversely affect the business operations as well.

Conflicts Management Styles

There are different management styles which help the people to face conflicts in an effective and efficient manner. Such conflict management styles are as follows:

Avoidance: It is a conflict style where the involved parties shows less interest or willingness in solving such conflicts and focus on other relevant matters (Suppiah and Singh Sandhu, 2011). This style can be effective when the conflict or issues are not much affected the business activities of an organisation.
Accommodation: This style becomes effective when involved parties accept other parties opinions in order to maintain healthy relation with them. This is the defective way of managing conflicts but on the other hand it will restrict the party to generate new ideas or solution to resolve conflict in an effective manner (Walker, Damanpour and Devece, 2010).
Compromise: It means involved parties cooperate with each other and find a single solution to resolve conflicts. This will help in maintain healthy relation among involved parties as well as also help in bringing optimum solution without getting any negative outcomes to tackle their conflicts.
Competition: In order to achieve desire goals and objectives involved parties focuses on resolving conflict with the help of other's ideas (Thomson and Van Niekerk,2012). It will create a bad relationship among both of the parties. Therefore with a motive of competing with on another, they always put their efforts in getting positive outcomes at the cost of other's well-being.
Collaboration: It is a conflict management style which comes with best solution. In this style, both the conflicted parties focuses on searching best solution which help in improving their satisfaction level as well as achieve their common goal. For example, if an employee of M&S (Marks&Spencer) company ask to his company to pay for his MBA program fees then manager should also suggest to him that he can pay but only when the employee will stay in company for 2years more after completion of MBA program. In such example both party will get benefit to achieve common goal (Li, Liang, and Crant,2010).

Negotiation:

When two or more person discuss something in order to find out the best solution to resolve problems is known as negotiation. It is considered as helpful approach which is used to resolve organisational issues and problems through making effective decisions. If an individual are not satisfied with something then it should required for them to meet and discuss issues and find out the best possible way of getting effective solution (Hogan and Coote, 2014). Therefore negotiation must be applicable in every organisation which help in reducing differences arises between employees or different departments. Negotiation required interest members which have some knowledge and skills to identify issues and contribute to fulfil needs and interest of each other. Negotiation plays an important role in removing conflicts in the following ways:

It helps in eliminating hurdles or barriers that comes during communication process.
It focuses on improving negotiable channel that will help in restricting the occurrence of future conflicts (Chiangand Hsieh, 2012).
It also helps in creating a approach or model which help in resolving future conflicts in an effective and efficient manner.
It focuses on satisfying needs and requirements of both the conflicted parties.

Negotiation as a method of conflict resolution:

The best way to resolve conflicts in an effective and efficient manner is to provide efforts to satisfy the interest and needs of parties involves in conflicts. The management of M&S (Marks&Spencer) company is required to adopt effective method which help in resolving conflicts through providing best solution for all conflicted parties. The conflicted parties can able find out the interest and needs of other parties through effective negotiations which also helps in maintain a healthy relationship among them (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). Therefore negotiation play an important role of resolving conflicts after de terming objective of both the conflicted parties in order bring maximum satisfaction ton both of them.

Conflicts arises in every type of organisation which adversely affect the market position of company. As if conflicts arises in M&S company also affect the business operation and overall performance of company by which they lose their competitive image in market world (The six leadership styles, 2013). Difference in opinions, positions etc. of employees working in an M&S company cause conflicts which brings dissatisfaction and demotivation among employees. Therefore it is necessarily required for managers of different departments of M&S company to create a platform where the employees communicate their problems to them to resolve. Through negotiation between managers and employees enable both of them to get proper solution without damaging interest of any party (Kellison and Mondello, 2012). This will help employees of M&S company to gain confidence and motivation by which they can contribute more to achieve desired goals and objectives of company.

Conclusion

From the above information, it can be summarised that to achieve set goals and objectives, it is very important that there must be effective management at workplace. Further, it is very important that right and effective style of leadership must be choose leaders of M&S so they can motivate workers to perform well. Effective management consists planning, directing, coordinating, organising and controlling business operations. All this help enterprise in utilise all its resources to an optimum level. Different type of conflicts arise or takes place in an enterprise and it is very important that all should be handle by managers in an effective way as this affect the quality of business operations in an negative way.

References

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