Stakeholders Of Marks And Spencer Commerce Essay

Stakeholders Of label And Spencer Commerce EssayMarks and Spencer is an international seller headquartered in London. It was beed in the year 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in partnership. It mainly specializes in c flockh lines and high end food products. The major product lines of the organization argon womens wear, children wear, sportswear, baby wear, perfumes and cosmetics, food and beverages, position appliances and etc. The brand has over 703 stores in UK and around 361 stores through disclose the globe. The comp whatever recorded an annual turnover of 9,934.3 billion by the end of year 2011. The firms meshing for the year 2012 was projected to be 489.6 million (Aaker, 2007).A wide range of development is submitd by the key stakeholder free radicals, for instance, customers want to k right off round the several(a) products that the troupe is offering them, discount options available, discipline about the after sales services and etc.Likewise, the sharehold ers are interested in getting details regarding their dividends asset companys financial reports (Kisielnicki, 2011).Similarly, the community wants to know the operational style of the retailer to ensure that it is not violating any law of the land alike employee exploitation, any threat to the purlieu and etc.Its competitors like Tesco, ASDA wish to know about the sales figure of the company, its position in the market, to analyze their competitive positioning. learning required by stakeholders in different organizationsMonitoring and evaluation comprises of analysis and collection of data. All the relevant parties at every level need information for their respective subjects. Project managers require information about the consequences of a specific project to fancy control the projects in a better way. Almost every organization publishes reports to give information to its stakeholders (Lee-Kelley and Sankey, 2008).Systems used for communicating with the Marks Spencer stakehol dersIn Marks Spencer, colloquy is on the whole about the transmission of information. The company has both internal as well as external discourse. Internal communication exists within the business of the retail giant, whereas external communication is present outside the boundaries of business. Both internal and external communications deem witnessed great transformation owing to the rapid developments in communication and information engineering. The company boasts ofAn interconnected system of internal communication- internal network.An e-commerce system for B2C connections.An e-commerce system for B2B connections.When on the whole these links are integrated with each other, a networked economy is created, which has greatly increased the potential of the company to associate with its workforce, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.The internal communication, i.e. communication with employees, shareholders is carried out in three ways i.e. oral, written and electronic. Information is transmitted verbally via face to face interactions, voice mails and etc. Information is communicated in written form by issuing letters, memos, and annual reports. Electronic communication is quickly overtaking other forms. The company has integrated this system in effectively. For instance, the stock list is now easily transmitted electronically from the supermarket to the main office. Transmission of all documents excessively takes place via emails entirely (Report on the Business of Marks and Spencer, n.d).Marks and Spencer communicates with its external stakeholders like customers, community, government and etc. using external modes of communication. Its public relation function is a tool to effectively communicate its nice image to the concerned people. Websites, advertisements, promotional campaigns, business letters are some other methods through which the company communicates with its outside key stakeholders (Electronic Shareholder Communication, 2012).Bar riers in workplace communicationThere are several barriers to effective communication in the organization. Some of them are listed belowInefficient audition skills Poor listening results fromPassive and not active listening and involvement when a psyche is speaking.No involvement with the subject matter or the other person.Material distractions like excessive noise in the environment, spoiled network.Disparity in the opinion with the person who is speaking, which results in mentally shutting off the other person.Biasness in any case creeps in, when a person chooses to listen to only some part and omit the rest of the part (Perry, 2009).Information overloadReceiving a message that contains too much information also acts as a barrier to effective communication. The receiver is not able to correctly interpret or decipher the information because of too many facts. For instance, if the company has put up an advertisement regarding its new product or offer, and too much information has been put into it, then the customer wont be able to digest all of it (4 Barriers to Effective Communication What to Do About Them, 2011).Non-Verbal GesturesAt times, it might happen that what a person is speaking is contradicted by his body language and gestures. When this happens, the other person is likely to remember what he saw and not what he heard.AssumptionsPostulating literally sabotages effective communication. For example, when the marketing head of Marks Spencer sees that his subordinates are nodding, he assumes that they understand what he is trying to convey, but the case may be totally opposite as well (4 Barriers to Effective Communication What to Do About Them, 2011).Influence of finis and value on communicationEvery culture and every behavior involves the use of communication. Thus, communication screwing be said to be a contagion medium for the ideas and values of different culture. Personalities of people, their respective values and apprehension levels also influence communication (Hyde and Williamson, 2000).Cultural Individualism-Collectivism affects communication through pagan norms and values which are beneath the broad culture. This directly impacts communication by way of the characteristics that an individual learns when he/she socializes. For instance, the Americans display individualism, whereas, Asians display collectivism. As Marks Spencer offers its products to both these regions, the heathenish differences in the two areas are to be thoroughly considered and accordingly plan its communication strategies (Abubaker, n.d).High as well as low context communication is followed in every culture throughout the globe. People following collectivism culture use high context communication while fostering group cohesion and communicate in a straightforward manner. People belonging to individualistic culture use low context messages and communicate in an confirmatory manner.Cultures which are of high suspense avoidance nature follow unambiguous customs and norms to direct behavior for all kinds of situations. On the other hand, cultures with low uncertainty avoidance tendency are quite ambiguous and lack formal strictness. Face negotiation theory is a theory concerning the behavior and discussion in conflicting situations of people following collectivism and individualism. This theory is very popular for cross culture communication (Stubbs, n.d).Marks Spencer gives a lot of emphasis to cultural disparities and tries to comprehend plus eliminate all such gaps. Some of the initiatives started by the company are- spoil Cultural exposure The Company burdens its employees to other countries for a definite period of time to acquaint them with other cultures. The employees stay there, work in other retail outlets of Marks Spencer and learn about the cultures and values of that place (Alon, 2000). genteelness and Workshops The company provides training and conducts workshops to train its executives in hand ling of various cultural issues and problems.Hiring multinational and multi cultural employees The organizations aims at hiring people from different cultures and nationality to create a price reduction of various cultures.Cognitive Dissonance This theory states that people are highly motivated to avoid differences in opinions arising out cultural disparities. People generally ignore listening to perspectives that contradict their own, in swan to avoid conflicts and disharmony (Morton, 2005).The use of engineering science- how it fosters and hinders communicationIt is an obvious fact that communication is the foundation of our society. The commencement of communication engine room and its several benefits has made the conducting of business easier internationally.Cost Savings- Cost savings is the biggest advantage of the improvement of technology in business communication. Activities that once involved huge corking can now be finished off easily and in less time. For instance, prior to the commencement of Voice of Internet Protocol technology, making a long distance call was very costly. But, owing to VoIP and cellular telephone technology making calls has become very cheap. Similarly, earlier the only way to send letters from one place to another was to take the services of a messenger or postal service. The email, however, has eliminated the need to transport hard copies (Esmailzadeh, 2006).Speed- The new technology has also increased the speed at which business operations take place. This is especially beneficial to retail companies that have interaction with suppliers in far-away locations. For instance, previously they had to plan meetings for individuals who are in different locations. Now, they can contact one another, sitting at their respective places owing to the video conferencing techniques (Derr, 2002).Hiring of Qualified employees- Several jobs that never existed onward have now been created. Skilled professionals are required to maintain, install and operate new information and communication technology tools.On the other hand, the same technology can also act as an impediment to the business communicationImpersonal Attitude Employees might view electronic communication as inert if they only receive messages from managers through email. It also creates confusion as this requires more feedback in comparison to personal communication methods.Security Issues The new technology also raises several security concerns. Emails, text messages and other website communication are often vulnerable to be hacked by hackers or other individuals who should not have any rightful access to information (Hoof and et.al., 2005).High tech Equipment Expense The Company has to acquire new equipments to implement business communication technology in its operations. It also requires hiring a person who is capable of handling maintenance issues. This is an additional cost to the company (Wood, 2010).Difficulty Training Employees Retail co mpanies face difficulty training employees about how to make use of the latest technology. They may have a difficult time making them understand the technology and how it work. The company might require electric battery out a large sum of money on employee training (Miller, 2011).The procedure of communication from vector to receiverEncoder There should be a sender who wants s to communicate the idea.Message A message can be in various forms verbal, non verbal, written, and electronic.ChannelMessagesareconveyedthroughchannels,withnonverbalverbalsocialinteractions like televisions, telephone, meetings, conferences etc.Decoder A decoder is the person who receives the message from the sender and decodes it to get the real meaning.Feedback The receiver will give feedback as per his understanding of the message.Context Thesituationinwhichyourmessageisdeliveredisthecontext (Guffe and Loewy, 2010).Recommendations for the improvement of the Marks Spencer communicationTo improve cultural communication between superiors subordinates, the following are the actions that can be takenImplementation of more Intensive Information System Technology plays an essential role in the activities of business, Therefore it is essential to improve the Information system of the organization by making sure that all of the employees will be connected to the latest updated communication system. It is also significant to focus on the various coaching and training procedures, where the recruits can apply for and get online class and seminars about different knowledge and skills, which will be supportive in order to fully motivate them to develop and improve, also leaders will have their thoughts about the demands and needs of the staff, which will be helpful in the process of implementing and think programs and measures that will help to improve the motivation and spirit of the staff (Datamonitor Report, 2011).Focus more on the Culture influence on Communication It is important for the company to stress on the variety of cultures, and how it can influence their communication. Therefore the below mentioned things can be done to enhance communication in cultural differencesCross cultural trainingIntercultural management trainingTranslation services (Miller, 2011)Measures that should be taken to have an effective Communication PlanMinimizing barriers to effective communication.Rendering prudish communication an integral part of the overall plan.To bring out the untapped opportunities for improved communication, have effective systems in place.Conduct an assessment to evaluate the communication skills the retailer and find out areas which require polishing.Regular provision for training employees in improving their interpersonal skills communication skills and.Employ team in bespeak of the overall Communication of the company.Positive indicators that communication is more likely to be handled dailyVisible actions indicatorsA culture that endorses direct yet non-thr eatening dialogue in interpersonal relations.A culture that comprehends non-verbal communications (Aaker, 2007).CONCLUSIONThus it can be concluded that information is required by all stakeholder groups of an organization, though their information requirement varies. In Marks Spencer both internal as well as external communication exists. Internal communication exists within the business of the retail giant, whereas external communication is present outside the boundaries of business. The company has an interconnected system of internal communication- internal network, an e-commerce system for B2C connections and an e-commerce system for B2B connections. Marks Spencer also gives a lot of emphasis to cultural disparities and tries to comprehend plus eliminate all such gaps (Alon, 2000).