Organizational Structure And Culture: A Comparison Of M&S And NISA Local Essay.

Task 1-

1.1 Company overview (M & S) A brief background on the company

1.2 Company overview (NISA local) A brief background on the company

Understand the relationship between Organisational Structure and Culture

2.1 What is organisational structure and culture? (AC1.1) Define organisational structure

Give examples of different organisational structures e.g. functional, Product, Centralised, de-centralised, geographically based, Matrix)

Define organisational culture

Give examples of Role, power, person, task culture. You can also mention norms, values and beliefs here also)

2.2 Compare and contrast the organisational structure and culture M&S and NISA local

This can be done in a table format:

2.4    Impact on performance (AC1.2) Define performance

Explain how the relationship between organisational structure and culture can have an impact on the performance of M&S. (Look at this from a positive and a negative point of view)

2.5    Influence on individual behaviour (AC1.3)

State the factors that influence behaviour at work (For example: Motivation, Culture, Satisfaction of employees, Adaptability of the organisation-organisational change, Management, Leadership, Up-bringing, Education and training etc.)

Pick 2 factors and define them Then state how they impact on behaviour in the work-place?

Task 2-

Understand different approaches to management and leadership ( AC2.1, 2.2, 3.3)

3.1 Leadership styles (AC2.1) Define leadership

State which styles are used in M&S and NISA local, this can be done in a table format:

Explain further which style is more effective and why?

3.2 Management styles (AC2.2) Define management

Pick 1 management theory and explain how it has affected the practice of management today generally. (Examples are Scientific, Bureaucratic, Classical Admin, Contingency, Systems, and Human Relations.

3.3 Management approaches

Task 3

Leadership and motivation

4.1    Changing leadership style Define change management

Explain how the change in leadership/CEO can have an impact on staff. (Motivation and satisfaction).

Find examples in M&S when Sir Stuart Rose left and Marc Bolland took over.

4.2    Motivational theory

Define motivation

Compare 2 motivational theories; this can be down in a table format.

How useful do you think these motivational theories are to managers today ( look at the positive and negative points)?

According to (Writing, 2015), Organizational Behaviour is the field of study that analyzes the performance of the individuals as well as group within an organization in corporate industry.  M&S (Marks & Spencer) is one of the UK based leading retailer. It is specializing in selling high quality home products, clothing and luxury food products to the customers. NISA Local is a unique member owned organization, which helps independent retailers remain competitive in the food and drink markets.

Organizational Structure

Organizational Structure

Organizational structure defines how the tasks are to be divided, coordinated and grouped in organizations. By structure, it means how the leadership is to be chosen, how decisions are to be made and how the members are to be accepted.

In functional structure, the activities are to be grouped together by some functions such as procurement, production, marketing, research and development. For example, the senior managers of various areas reported to the director who has the responsibility of various operational areas.

Product based organizational structure separates a company by geography, products, projects and activities. For example, an executive of Kraft products would also be responsible for all types of products under that label.

The decisions are to be taken by top level managers.  For example, in a trucking company, the manager takes the operational decisions and sends information to all drivers individually through dispatches.   

In decentralized organization, the decisions are to be taken by both mid level as well as low level managers. For example, franchise organizations which control the development of the product and also take staffing decisions.

All business units are allowed to operate into geographical units and they report to the central headquarter who administers the functions such as marketing and planning. For example, support representative in India would only be able to speak with their customers from India.

In matrix structure, there is multiple numbers of reporting lines that means there are more than one formal manager. For example, in matrix structure, the individuals from finance, product and marketing departments have discussions with each other about formulating the strategies (Writing, 2015).

It is the set of attitudes as well as beliefs of the employees and the management that will help to influence the behaviour of the employees within an organization. 

Power culture: Sir Alan Sugar’s organization, where all the decisions are to be taken by Alan such as wages of employees, who will get selected etc. It shows that one person can control over the whole organization.

Role culture: It is based on the structure of the organization and work is to be decided via rules and regulations. An example is M&S where one person will not control the whole business but many other people should take decisions depending on their job role.

Task culture: It makes team to perform a task. Every individual in the team will have different skills, so no one has a special position to take the decisions. For example, London 2012 Olympics is task culture as many people worked together to complete the project.

Functional Organizational Structure

Person culture: An individual person has the authority to take decisions regarding tasks and activities. Example includes doctors, surgeons, barristers etc (A Baker, 2015).

Organization	Structure	Culture
M&S	Flat organizational structure (Administrative level to front line employees)	Quick turnover Honesty Hard work No frills attached
NISA Local	Corporate Structure (Industrial advisory Board Centre Site Director University policy committee)	Corporate culture

In case of M&S, the original culture is derived from the founder’s family. The culture is based on honesty, hard working, and quick turnover and also no frills attached. In M&S it can be seen that these values are evolved into the company’s culture. A flat organizational structure is to be followed by M&S.

The organizational structure of NISA Local consists of Industrial Advisory Board (IAB), University Policy Committee (UPC) as well as Centre Site Director. IAB makes the recommendations on projects and Centre Directory manages the operations of Centre, which acts as a liaison with university administration and members of the companies (Janićijević, 2015).

Performance is the required output of an organization that is to be measured against its goals as well as objectives. The culture of M&S plays an important role to understand their organizational performance. The following list of beliefs as well as values is to be found by M&S:

The quality of the products are to be offered at reasonable prices

The employees are to promoted within the organization

The company have to build their long lasting reputation in the marketplace

M&S does not take the advantage of the experienced staffs who know the demand of the customers; it leads to bureaucratic structure which should hamper the flexibility of their business.The structure of M&S has an impact on the performance of their business. The structure has shaped with the strategy of M&S.

Motivation: Motivation is a feature that motivates the individuals to act towards a desired goal.  In the workplace, the motivational factors that motivate the employees to perform are achievement, growth, social status, power, rewards etc.  

Leadership: Leadership is the action of motivating the employees to achieve the goal.  Leaders play an important role to influence the behaviour of the individuals. Leaders help the employees in their work, guide them and upgrade the knowledge area (MacDonald, 2015).

The company’s performance depends upon the performance of the employees that how the individuals should communicate with each other. If there is a lack of communication between the individual and other members of the group then it will affect the performance of the company.  

Leadership Styles:

According to Crosby and Bryson, (2005), “Leadership” is a process, by which members of a team are motivated to achieve the goals. There are various types of leadership styles. But the most commonly used leadership styles are – Autocratic, Democratic, Paternalistic, Bureaucratic, Laissez Faire, Charismatic and Missionary leadership style.

	M & S (Marc Bolland)	NISA local
Leadership Styles Followed	Follows Consultative style of leadership, which is defined as the style which focuses more on the experiences, skills and ideas of others.	NISA local follows Democratic or Participative leadership style.
Examples	The marketing department of M & S before launching new product in the market, they consult with the others of their organization and then they rush straight for launching a new range of product.	NISA local is association of many retailers, thus before taking any decision; the leader needs the help of the others.

Product Organizational Structure

Consultative style of leadership includes those managers who usually have more listening power and thus, want to consult with the other members of the company before making any decision and implementing it, for more sources of opinion.  

On the other hand, Democratic/ Participative leadership style allows the followers to participate in decision making process and encourages them to demonstrate interest, initiative, drive, imagination and creativity for enriching the plans of the organization.  

In order to achieve specific goals, the coordination of the activities is known as management. On the other hand, management styles are the specific ways or manner of making decisions and managing the staffs and their job activities in the organization (Mahajan, 2011).

Generally, there are many management theories, like – Bureaucratic, Scientific, Administrative, Systems, Classical, Human Relations and Contingency.

Max Weber (1864 - 1920), is the “Father of Bureaucratic Management Theory”. This theory is based on the principles stated by Frederick Taylor in his scientific management theory. Like, Taylor, Weber also put stress on efficiency, but also warned about the danger of emphasizing technology at the cost of emotion (Dr.S.Saraswathi, 2011).

All the above stated key elements of Bureaucratic Theory are affecting today’s management effectively (Trondal, 2011). For example, now a days, in any organization, a clear job role is stated by the employer during the process of an interview only, the hierarchy is maintained from the senior most post like manager to lower designations like assistant manager, officer, clerks accordingly.  Lastly, choosing the right people for the right job has become essential in order to execute the task effectively (Donohoe, 2012).  

	M & S leadership team	NISA local
Management style	Bureaucratic style is followed, which is defined as the leadership where by adding control layers, power, problems are solved.	Contingency style is followed here. According to this approach, managers have to manage and take decisions, analyzing the total situations.
Example	M & S is Bureaucratic as decisions are taken according to pre defined plans and actions are taken accordingly.	NISA is an association of different retailers, there may be times when different conflicts arise among the members.

Bureaucratic style is better as all decisions are taken with utmost importance and all disagreements or conflicts are removed at each stage. Contingency style is based on making decisions according to the situations and as such accurate decision making becomes difficult here.

Change in Leadership Style:

Generally, change management is defined as a systematic approach to deal with both the changes that is, the change from perspective of a firm as well as the individual.

Both motivation and job satisfaction are affected when the leader and his leadership style is changed, as with the change in the leadership style, the motivating factor, the importance of the employee for the organization, all changes. These changes may be positive or may be negative.

In case of M & S, when Marc Bolland took over the leadership, the following successful changes in management took place. They are –

Centralized organizational structure

M & S was in huge losses when Marc took over and was facing stiff competition from rivals such as Next. Sales increases and profit is reported for the first time in 4 years. New A line collection launched, customers react favourably and thus, sales get a boost. 

Motivation is defined as the process that accounts for the passion, persistence and direction of achieving a goal of an individual. There are four motivational theories. Two of them are compared below:

	MASLOW’S THEORY	HERZBERG’S THEORY
MOTIVATIONAL THEORY	It is based on the concept of human needs and satisfaction (Cakmur, 2011).	It is based on the use of motivators.
	It includes five sets of human needs and their satisfaction (Cakmur, 2011).	Motivating and hygiene factors are involved (Weidler, 2012)
	It is simple and descriptive.	It is more complex.
	It is quite popular in developing countries.	It is the extension of Maslow’s theory (Morgan, 2012).
	It is descriptive in nature	It is prescriptive in nature.
EXAMPLES OF M & S	By helping staff reach their goals at work and praise and reward them for doing well.	Proper working conditions and responsibilities are provided so that the employees themselves feel motivated to work (Canósâ€ÂDarós, 2013) .

Useful of Motivational Theories:

It puts human resources into action

Level of efficiency of employees are improved

Organizational goals are achieved

Friendly relationship is built

On the other hand, control is needed, over stress, extremely task-oriented leadership may cause harm to the employees.

Groups and teams

A group consists of individuals those interact with each other in such a way that the action of one person have an impact on other’s person. The members of the group identify each other by their similar traits. In an organization, most of the work is done in groups. In a group, the people are feeling desire to contribute within a group and they are capable to coordinate the efforts that have very high level of performance. Group and teams are different from each other based on orientation of task, formal structure as well as due to familiarity among the team members (Shin, 2014).

In an organization there are two types of groups: Informal group and formal group. In formal group, the group is made of managers, associates as well as subordinates those influence the behaviours of the members in the group. In informal group, it is made of two or more than two individuals those are associates with each other.

Group type	Behaviour in M&S
Eg- Formal Management team	The management team provides support, give advice, lead, inspire and coach their team to meet with the customer’s expectations.
Eg- Informal Who lunch together	They are associated with each other and have a mutual relationship between them.

The people in the organization perform teamwork when the workers combine the skills of their individuals to achieve the goals. Therefore, the word teamwork originates from the concept of team and it refers to do work in group.

Factors that promote teamwork in M&S	Factors that hider teamwork in M&S
Diversity Communication Leadership Team building exercises	Focusing on goals Compensation Communication Deal with conflict

A team is always driven by goals. In order to have effective team, the goals are to be spelled out in advance and it will be understood by the team members. A team will be successful in their work when the team members understand their compensation for their efforts. If the members of the team feel that they are compensated fairly, then it can lead to productivity. Communication between team members as well as management and communication between team members are developing the performance of the team. The managers of M&S hold meetings with the team members to update the information. Conflict between the team members tends to throw the members out from the team as it will affect the goals and objectives of their business.

Decentralized organizational structure

Team dynamics have an impact on the performance of the team. It is the force that operates between the groups in the team. Technology has an impact on the team dynamics, these technologies are Skype, webinars, conference calling, instant messaging etc.

Skype: It is a way to see other team members during phone calls and Skype call and this will help the team feel more connected to one another.

Webinars: When the team spread out in the same office or same geographic locations then Webinars is a solution to communicate with the team members.

Conference calling: Conference calls is effective way to communicate with the team members but sometimes it loses their value as more members are included in the call.

Instant messaging: When two colleagues are working on a specific tasks, then they have to build a strong relationships with each other, the way is instant messaging. But sometimes, the interaction between the team members can arise some tension and conflict with each other.

The change in technology has an impact within M&S. When the team members are located geographically then they are using the technology to communicate with each other within the team (Duranti & Carvalho de Almeida, 2012). They are doing conference call but sometimes it losses the value as more than two individuals participate in the call, thus it causes a conflict between them on an issue. It causes tension in the workplace.

The key business terminology as well as application in M&S is to grow its business to reduce its dependency. Their business is built of innovation, integrity, inspiration etc. Their key features are to secure the profitable growth as well as build their business for the long term.

Conclusion

It is being concluded that the organizational structure of M&S is flat whereas the NISA local have corporate structure. This structure is to be used for decision making and to decrease the bureaucracy. As there are less management levels so communication between the managers and employees become easy. The culture of M&S plays an important role to understand their organizational performance. The company’s performance depends upon the performance of the employees that how the individuals should communicate with each other. M&S follows the consultative style of leadership that includes those managers who usually have more listening power. NISA local follows Democratic or Participative leadership style. The team members play an active role in the decision making process. The factors that promote teamwork in M&S are diversity, leadership whereas that hinder in M&S is focusing on goals, compensation.

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