Marketing and Management Styles: Marks and Spencer Stores (Term Paper Sample)

[Management Styles:Marks and Spencer Stores]
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Table of Contents
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Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc354346668 \h
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Discussion  PAGEREF _Toc354346669 \h
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Significant issues surrounding and change processes implemented by Marks and Spencer  PAGEREF _Toc354346670 \h
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Application of strategic management techniques  PAGEREF _Toc354346671 \h
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Top Down Approach in the Marks and Spencer stores  PAGEREF _Toc354346672 \h
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Application of Strategic Leadership and Management  PAGEREF _Toc354346673 \h
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Leadership  PAGEREF _Toc354346674 \h
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Management  PAGEREF _Toc354346675 \h
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Other issues leading to failed change implementation  PAGEREF _Toc354346676 \h
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Complacence  PAGEREF _Toc354346677 \h
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Conclusion  PAGEREF _Toc354346678 \h
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Introduction
Michael Marks was intended to become one of the most recognized and well established brands internationally. This firm was a huge success back in the 1880s considering the cost of the products on offer and the fact that it was a penny bazaar. Marks expanded his business, and made a decision to collaborate with Tom Spencer to ensure that the business grew in a steady manner (Worth, 2007). Up to the 1990s, it is safe to state that Marks and Spencer was one of the most successful firms with respect to market share and profits. This success can be linked to the structured formulae that was applied was put into practice in all the operations. This was maintained through the establishment of the core fundamental business activities (Collier, 2004). Marks and Spencer had its primary principals dependent on the offering of high quality and adequately priced merchandise to clients, availing helpful services to their clients, improving business effectiveness and efficiency, having their suppliers make use of efficient and modern techniques, to give them quality items, as well as fostering adequate and proper human relations with all the stakeholders. Several issues affected the change process implementation, at Marks and Spencer. These issues are linked to strategic management practices, which affect organizations. This paper will therefore critically discuss the issues surrounding and change processes implemented by marks and spencer following its downturn in performance in the late 1990s, considering various aspects of strategic management.
Discussion
Significant issues surrounding and change processes implemented by Marks and Spencer
Application of strategic management techniques
Strategic management techniques tend to take tow facets either bottom- up, top down or a balance of the two. As the case study indicates, the Top down approach was the most significant with respect to the running of Marks and Spencer stores. Evidently, it was the CEO, who made significant decisions with regard to any direction that was to be taken.
Top Down Approach in the Marks and Spencer stores
The management approach embraced at the time was the top down approach. This is bent on the fact that the store managers were required to follow one particular central direction with respect to merchandising, the design of the stores they managed as well as the layout of the same. This essentially restricted the manner in which these mangers could respond to the clientele local needs. All the Marks and Spencer stores were identical with respect to the procedures that were being followed, guarantee of the store standards as well as image consistency. In this approach, any form of ambiguity quickly opens doors for potential failure. The managers of these stores depended exclusively on directives from the top office, however little the matter to be handled was. This eventually caused delays in several of the enquiries by clients. As indicated, Marks and Spencer produced items that stood the test of time and did not bother having any fitting rooms. However, this is a key issue in any clothes store because at Marks and Spencer, clients were to pick an item that they were sure was their size and there was no refund made for any client who was not satisfied with the product. Such directives were part of the reduced sales of the store because despite the managers clearly listening to the grievances of the client, they could not make a refund or any adjustment on the product what so ever. Naturally, the team members like the managers or store attendants did not bother forwarding such claims to the top because they knew they would not be listened to and had just to follow the given directives eventually effective collaboration went down and so did moral motivation (Collier, 2004).
Application of Strategic Leadership and Management
 HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Zaleznik" \o "Abraham Zaleznik" Abraham Zaleznik clearly distinguished managers from leaders. He further pointed out that the rise of managers and decline of leadership was the reason why most businesses decline. Leaders as he stated, tend to inspire the entire organization and they focus on the end. However, managers are bent of the processes that are involved in carrying out activities in the organization (2008). The strategic management process requires leadership for it to be successfully executed, with respect to change, thus are focused on the means. Lack of leadership tends to be the most detrimental aspect as well as poor management practices, which eventually paralyze the entire firm. However, the strategic implementation process of change implementation, calls for both leadership and management to be adequately applied.
Leadership
Greenbury- Autocratic leadership
Greenbury, alongside the top down type that was in the firm, embraced an autocratic form of management. The products sold by Marks and Spencer ended up being in the stores year in year out and the firm did not bother having sales, since the top management was convinced that the products were of very high quality. However, having directives from the top that would not help in increasing sales, automatically results in reduced productivity and income. Since Marks and Spencer, managers had a directive on only using the British suppliers for managers could not question the belief in quality and issues by these suppliers, an embracement of the Douglas McGregor Theory X. This continual denial of inputs by managers and other employees to the improvement of the organization slackened operations in most stores because nothing could be done without instructions and to some extent; the managers tend to feel micromanaged and untrusted (Brady & Bolchover, 2002).
With the same idea of management, not all the merchandise being produced by Marks and Spencer was sold, the clients mostly purchased the “classic wearable fashion” that only the executives would approve of (Collier, 2004). Another directive was the cutting back of full time sales assistants, which resulted in these stores meeting the needs of all the clients within the required time. Notably the costs of implementing some of these directives are counterproductive but the immediate store managers as opposed to the top managers notice such instances. The fall in the sales was obviously significant because an unattended client would walk to another store. It was noted, that within this directive, when Greenbury made a visit to the stores, the managers apparently masked their inadequacy by bringing back all the staff members to indicate that they were giving full services and were efficient. Such actions tend to indicate that the firm indeed does not have the capacity as well as ability to reap the benefits of the knowledge and experience the mangers it has. This is because they are the ones who know the number of clients who come to their stores and the number of assistants that would adequately work to attend to each of these clients at all levels. Notably, there were minimal disagreements with respect to the directives that the managers would bring forth, so whatever policy was received or decision was made regardless of the different needs of the people buying items from a given store, the managers would not say anything even if they were concerned regarding the negative impact of some directives.
A review made regarding customer satisfaction levels at the Marks and Spencer stores, indicated a continuous decline in the sense that, in 1995 it was at 71%, dropped to 62% in 1998, and the levels were at 45% by 1999 (Andi, 2012). These results were kept away from Greenbury but the store managers were well aware of this issue. Since decision-making is restricted to the top management, lack of suggestions, information, and ideas that come from the bottom; was a great contributor to such survey results, and evidently the continued lack of reception of information from the mangers is definitely detrimental to the organization. The significant problems that Marks and Spencer largely contributed by the type of management practices came to the lime light in 1998, when the expansion programme intended to take part in America and Europe failed to kick off. In as much as these expansions were necessary for the future wellbeing of these stores, Marks and Spencer was having great financial difficulty. In November, the company announc...