Marks and Spencer Organizational Development Process - Case Study Example

Table of Contents Page No INTRODUCTION 2 BODY 2 Anticipating the Need to Change, Problem and Area for Improvement 3 Impact of Organization’s Culture 3 Client and Practitioner Considerations 5 Diagnostic Process and Data Collection 5 Overcoming Resistance to Change 5 Institutionalization Action Plan and Timeline 6 Action Plans, Strategies, and Techniques 7 Specific Intervention Analysis 7 CONCLUSION 8 REFERENCES 9 Introduction: Marks and Spencer is major retail business group having over 125 years of retail business experience. Its operations are widely expanded in domestic and international markets with over 840 stores located in around 30 countries. Its major business operations are in the field of clothing and food retailing. It expanded its business to other sectors such as home wares, furniture, technology etc. It was the first company in Britain which made a pre- tax profit of over £1 billion. M&S is the leading retailer in UK having wide customer base. Their products are of high quality and stylish, offering greater customer value. Procurement of resources is made globally from over 2000 suppliers. More than 75000 employees are on the rolls of the company. In the retail clothing sector of UK market, the company has growing market share. Online business strategy is also adopted by them. (About us, 2009). Through customer focused production and marketing techniques the company is aiming to attain world class position in the retail market field. Along with offering of highest quality products, customer servicing is also ensured by them for attaining loyal customer base. “Our brand values – quality, value, service, innovation and trust – are more important than ever. Our commitment to these values sets us apart from our competitors, and enables us to offer our customers something truly special.” (About us, 2009). An overview of Organizational Development process: According to Richard Beckhard, Organizational Development is “An effort (1) planned (2) organization-wide (3) managed from the top to (4) increase organization effectiveness and health through (5) planned interventions in the organizations’ ‘processes’ using behavioral science knowledge. Such efforts are usually long term (at least 2-3years) action oriented (rather than merely training) focused on changing attitudes and/or behavior through experience based learning activities primarily in a group setting.” (Ms10 organizational design, development and change, (n.d), p.6). Anticipating the need to change-Problem and Area of Improvement: The problems may be either hidden or apparent. The problem could be in the organization structure, task or human resources etc. a problem could be defined as a situation which experiences uncertainty in the achievement of objective. The idea about problem could be gathered by discussion with senior managers, trade union leaders, etc. The main problem identified is the attitude of the employees and their rights. Among the articles published TUC General Secretary John Monks said about the one of the key issues to be addressed. “Second we want to raise the wider issues of the rights of workers faced with redundancy.” (Marks and Spencer should think again, 2006). Human resource is key asset of any organization and they should be adaptable to the changing environment. The key issues among the employees should be resolved for the success of the organization. The other issue that could be viewed is the attitude and behavior of the employee in the work place. So the area of improvement is to change the attitude of the employees towards work and improving the communication between HR department and employees. So in order to change the attitude of the employees the company should first identify the reasons for their attitude. Impact of organizational culture: We should identify the organizational culture and their implications of it towards resolving the problem. The organizational culture of Marks and Spencer is based on the shared attitude of “taken for granted” fashion of the members of the organization. The basic assumptions regarding the organizational culture are reflected at the members and the organizational level. In the period of 1980s the industry showed higher level growth in the culture and symbolism in organizations. The culture and symbolism is highlighting the softer character of the organization. In the M&S, the management adopts an organizational culture reflecting its image. The actions of the employees in the organization are influenced by the subjective and objective factors. In the objective factor, technology and market structure are involved. The members in the organization react to the environment. Organization is required to change with the changes in the environment for sustaining the market share and business growth with profitability. Until the beginning of 1990s, the company was successful with the application of structured formula in the operational level and establishment of fundamental principles. Their core business strategies are based on these principles. But in the changed circumstances in the environment, these principles and strategies seem to be outdated and thus a strategic drift is aroused. “And for more than half a century M & Spencer was the epitome of enlightened capitalism. It dominated the British high streets and provided shoppers with quality and value clothing unrivalled by competitors.” (Marks & Spencer, (n.d)). The corporate culture of Mark and Spencer: Resource procurement of the company is mainly depended on the British suppliers. They adopted the traditional way of resource procurement under which the product distribution from the central buying office to the stores are made on timely basis. Identical design and layouts are applied to each of the company’s stores and proper training is provided to the store personnel. The store managers are subjected to the rules and principles of the organization. Severe restrictions are imposed on the communication of store managers with the local customers. They have not taken care to incorporate the existing fashion and trends in the market with their product. These are the major cultural problems that restrict the business growth and profitability of the company. Hierarchical level strategies along with monotonous and static business system result in loss of customer satisfaction. The dynamism in the market place is not considered by them with adequate importance. The business culture of M&S brings about conditions of inequality between the organizations paradigm and the business environment. Implications of organizations culture towards problem solving: Employee involvement is crucial in the organizational change. The organizational change should be covering the entire organization starting from the top to down. There should be a change in the attitudes and behaviors of the company. In order to introduce change, the company should determine the strategy of producing the best results. Client and Practitioner Considerations: The organization should choose the organization development practitioner i.e. whether internal or external consultant. Consulting with both change agents has its own advantages and disadvantages. The internal practitioner may be some top level professionals like Vice President, Human Resource and a supporting team for organizational change. In certain cases, as the OD practitioner is not available or the result should be accurate, external practitioners could be assigned as change agent. Some of the external OD practitioners are Strategy Consulting Limited, Avanza partnership, Transformation Partners (Wales) Ltd. In certain case, the external practitioner would be supported with the internal team for data collection and analysis. Diagnostic Process and Data Collection: In the diagnostic process, the OD consultant collects relevant information form the organizational members. Systems model is one among the diagnostic models which helps in the organizational diagnosis. Systems model considers organization as an open system and there are three components in it-input, processing and output. The systems model is used as it provides feedback to each component. The data could be collected through questionnaires, interviews and observation. The most suitable will a combination of the three. Overcoming resistance to change: In order to formulate policies for overcoming resistance to change, identification of the reasons for the resistance is essential. In the concept of A. J. Schuler, there are mainly ten reasons that restrict the changes in organization by personnel. They are greater risk factors related to the change, lack of confidence, lack of role models for the change etc. In the case of Mark and Spencer Company attempts to make changes in terms of attitude of the employees and their rights will create resistance on the part of the organizational personnel. In order to overcome the resistance to organizational change it will have to be through better informing the organizational personnel about the need to improve the efficiency and profitability of the organization for the wellbeing of the organizational personnel as well as other stake holders. Resistance may arise from perceived fear of lack of competency for meeting the change. Changes in the right of organizational employees may require changes in skills and thus people may fear about lack of confidence to undertake such changes. To overcome the resistance adequate training and guidance should be provided to them in the managerial level. Institutionalization Action Plan and Timeline: The action plan should be developed for implementing the intervention technique for leading the change. The activities, leading persons, facilitators, resources required etc should be prepared clearly. The events to be conducted and the timeline for each activity should be clearly chalked out. Usually change process consists of three stages-initial stage, transition stage and institutionalizing stage. The one model most commonly used is Lewin’s Change Model consisting of unfreezing, movement and refreezing stages. In the unfreezing stage, motivation to change is created among the individuals for encouraging them to replace the old behaviors. The attitude of the employees is collected to identify the current stage and what are the factors which contribute to their attitudes. As the employee behaviors are to be identified, two to three months is required for it. In the movement stage, the need for change, the required behaviors from them should be communicated. Making them aware of the benefits of change like improvement in the communication between the employees and HR department etc may help the organization to develop a positive attitude among the employees. This requires a long time range of one to two years. The last stage refreezing, the changed behaviors are integrated to their normal working life. In addition, coaching and modeling could be used to stabilize the change. Action Plans, Strategies, and Techniques: The action plan is based on the Lewin’s Change Model; it does not have any impact upon the technical or behavioral strategies. But the structure should be changed in order to incorporate the change. As the problem is among the employees, and also to improve the communication, the intervention technique should be directed in all levels-organizational, group and individual level. Process consultation could be used for organizational development as the problem identified here is an HR issue. The main aim of Marks and Spencer Company is developing their commodities and market reach with creating new opportunities and strong brand image. Company’s strength, weakness, opportunities and threats can be identified on the basis of market capitalization and input ratios. Firstly the company innovated with new products in clothing sector like pyjamas and nightwear and they charged low price of the commodity. But it became failure. Then company introduced some techniques for promoting new products. The company’s output was increased due to the introduction of machines. However the Marks and Spencer developed into the whole market with maximization of profit. This company provides attraction to the customer through variety of products. Specific Intervention Analysis: The other intervention techniques which could be used for addressing HR issues are survey feedback, team building, T-group training etc. The advantage of Process consultation is that, they help the client to take their solution rather than giving solutions by their own. Also using Process Consultation helps in developing the company to solve the problems when future situations arise. Conclusion: Marks and Spencer is a famous retailer in UK and has more than 450 stores . In addition, company has 150 stores world wide, including over 130 permitted business working in 30 countries. It is a Britain retailer that sells dress, gifts, home furnishing and foods. The above research was done to identify a specific problem in the company and to develop an organization development intervention to solve the problem and manage the change process. Introduction gives a brief part about the company and the body part contains issues about the problem and relevant OD interventions used for solving the problem. While managing the change, how to overcome the resistance to change are also discussed, thus reaching an OD intervention technique to solve the problem and manage the change. References About us: Company overview. (2009). Your M&S. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/company_overview About us: Our plan. (2009). Your M&S. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/our_plan Ms10 organizational design, development and change: Block 5 organizational development and change: Richard Beckhard. (n.d). Indira Gandhi National Open University School of Management Studies. 6. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from http://www.ignou.ac.in/edusat/mba/MS-10/pdf/MS-10%20%20Block-5.pdf\ Marks and Spencer should think again. (2006). HRM Guide: Employee Relations. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/relations/marks_spencer.htm Marks & Spencer. (n.d). Retrieved April 29, 2009, from http://www.1stessays.com/samples/businessanalysis.pdf Read More