Empowering Leaders, Empowering Teams

Introduction

According to Bolman and Deal (2017), leadership is mandatory for the organisations to conduct proper research about the organisational internal and external environment and develop appropriate strategic planning for the benefits for the organisations (Mendenhall et al., 2017; Lavoie‐Tremblay et al., 2016). The leaders are responsible to manage the stakeholders including the employees, staff, mangers, suppliers and contributors as well as other external stakeholders such as government, customers and social communities. In this business context, the employees are the major stakeholders to run the business activities strategically and it is hereby the responsibility of the leader to manage the employees at the workplace and develop suitable organisational culture to lead the people towards achieving future organisational success (Hawkins, 2017).

Western (2019) stated that, in the recent era of globalisation, there are several challenges to run the business successfully which are cultural diversity, lack of communication and cooperation, poor management of change and lack of fulfilment of the employee morale. These are the major challenges for which the leader fails to manage strong employee base and retain the experienced staff in long run. The study aims at identifying the leadership practice at the workplace, where it is possible to manage the employees and lead the successfully. Through this study, different leadership practices as well as the role of the leaders in managing changes at the workplace will be evaluated as well as it would be possible to develop further recommendations through which the leader can develop loyal and diverse workforce at the organisation to run the firm sustainably in the market.

Leadership practices

There are several leadership practices, through which it is possible for the leaders to manage the diverse workforce and develop strong employee base successfully. The leadership practices are such as,

Monetary rewards:

It is the responsibility of the leader to manage the monetary rewards by restructuring their salary for the employees, introducing performance related pay an incentives. This further help the employees to feel motivated and appreciated or better performance and thus the strategies of giving monetary rewards further enhance the employee’s performance in long run (Shirey, 2017). Rosenbach (2018) stated that, the leader of Tesco in this regard implements the Minimum Wage Act 2020 to restructure the wages for encouraging the employees at the workplace and manage diverse workforce successfully in the internationals tries of Tesco. Additionally, it is also necessary to provide yearly bonus and incentives which encourage the employees for contributing positively and gaining higher incentives further.

Health and safety management:

Shaughnessy et al. (2018) opined that, the leaders are responsible to provide safe workplace to the employees to work safely and with security. It is necessary for the leaders to manage the expatriates and local staff at the workplace and manage the organisational activities successfully. The organisational leaders try to manage workplace safety by implementing CCTV cameras and fire extinguisher, developing emergency exit which further manage safety of the employees. The staffs are also able to work positively in the safe place (Lavoie‐Tremblay et al., 2016). In this context, Wal-Mart as famous retail firm focuses on managing employee’s security by data security management where implementation of Data Protection Act 1998 and ensuring the safety of the personal data of the staff, the company is successful to manage the employees and improve trust and loyalty at the workplace (Schwatka et al., 2019). On the other hand, Shaughnessy et al. (2018) argued that, the leader of Tesco provides health and safe insurance and implementing health and Safety at workplace Act 1974 which further helps the employees to feel safe. The insurance coverage at Tesco is an innovative leadership practice where the leader tries to support the employees in case of any accidental incidents at the workplace.

Cultural diversity management:

As opined by Pilbeam et al. (2016), cultural diversity management is essential leadership practice, where the leaders aim at managing diversity and in this regard the leader of the multinational corporate forms troy to implement the organisational polices and legislations for better management of diverse workforce. The multinational companies implements the Equality Act 2010 and non-discrimination policies and practice at the workplace, where the leader ensure fair treatment and managing equality at the workplace (Banks et al., 2016). The famous business organisations such as Apple and Tesco develop non-discrimination practice to manage their expatriates and strengthen their employee base in long run. Pilbeam et al. (2016) argued that, managing equality and diversity through providing cultural training is also effective where the employees can understand their colleagues and develop suitable workplace. On the other hand, the management team and the leaders try to provide equal opportunity to all the employees who is also beneficial to develop diverse working culture and enhance trust and loyalty among the staff.

Developing partnership working practice:

Banks et al. (2016) stated that, developing partnership working practice is another leadership practice, where the leaders enhance the working practice at the organisation. Through enhancing communication and cooperation, leaders try to manage the employee morale and fulfil their requirements at the workplace. The internal communication is increased through arranging general meeting, attending conferences, developing group discussion and encouraging open communication at the workplace (Pilbeam et al., 2016). The leader also encourages the employee’s creativity at the workplace and improves cooperation for developing effective team work.

Inspiring the employees:

According to Lavoie‐Tremblay et al. (2016), inspiration and support are mandatory for the employees to be motivated and work efficiently. The leaders at the organisations Tesco and Wal-Mart also focus on continuous inspiriting for the employees, where they try to motivate them by providing monetary and non-monetary rewards. The leader encourages the employee’s creativity as well as continuous communication and sharing organisational information further inspires the staff to work efficiently. Moreover, the leader also aims at developing co-workers relationship and enhances trust and loyalty among them (Harris et al., 2017). Managing responsibility and supervisor quality management are also motivating factors which further enhancing the employees’ performance in long run. The leaders in this regard try to support and direct the employees through improving open communication and cooperation where the employees can be empowered well and share their views for better working practice at the workplace (Bolman and Deal, 2017).

Continuous growth:

Schwatka et al. (2019) opined that, the leaders try to provide continuous scope for personal and professional development to the employees and it is effective for motivating the staff at the workplace for managing change and enhancing the organisational innovation, the leaders focus on to be creative and explore alternative solutions to run the business strategically. For this, the leaders provide continuous training program as well as support the workforce with diverse knowledge and creative solutions of enhancing their performance. This is also effective for managing the organisational performance and enhancing innovation and organisational creativity (Lavoie‐Tremblay et al., 2016).

Organisational culture:

Creating suitable organisational culture is also another leadership practice, where the leaders try to develop suitable workplace with freedom to work and flexibility. The organisations try to manage transparency and accountability at the workplace which are appropriate strategy it develop trust and loyalty (Rosenbach, 2018). Apart from that, according to Shirey (2017), the leader tries to provide flexibility at the workplace and freedom to choose the working hours so that the employees can balance their work life. This is effective for retain the long term and experienced staff in the workplace and enhance flexibility to work. Moreover, positive body language and leader’s openness are also effective to manage the diverse workforce (Shaughnessy et al., 2018). The leader also aims at respecting each staff and improves integrity to work efficiently. The organisations such as Apple and Wal-Mart also provide suitable working culture, where the employees are feeling valued to perform better.

Role of leaders in managing changes at workplace

As opined by Hawkins (2017), managing change at the workplace is essential in the recent years to enhance the organisational creativity and technological innovation, where the leaders are able to manage their change and maintain diverse and loyal employee base at the workplace. As per the Lewin’s change management model, there are there steps of managing change, which are unfreezing, change and refreezing. During unfreezing, the organisational leader tries to identify the need for change, creating urgency of adopting change and ensuring strong support through managing and understanding doubts and activities together (Western, 2019). For example, the leader of Apple focuses on communicating the changes at the workplace with all the employees, engineers and technicians during product development through creative design and latest technological innovation. As an electronics manufacturing company, Apple is the most innovative organisation providing quality products including smart phones, tablets and laptops. Hereby, the leader is efficient to communicate and cooperate with the employees at the workplace and manage the diverse workforce strategically.

As opined by Shaughnessy et al. (2018), leading the change through communication, dispel rumours, empowerment of the employees and involving all the people in the change management process are mandatory. In this regard, the organisational leader focus on managing change through engaging all the staff in the change process and empower them as well for sharing their perception and developing creative organisational decision. Hereby, the organisational leaders in the multinational corporate firms aim at managing the diverse workforce at the workplace and develop strong binding to perform better together. In this regard, the sportswear manufacturing companies such as Reebok, Nike and Adidas are also focusing on managing their diverse workforce as the organisations run global operations where the leader is responsible to manage change and maintain the expatriates by creating values for them (Bolman and Deal, 2017). In this regard, the organisational leaders continuously support the expatriates and the loyal employees by sharing adequate organisational information and strategic planning to boost their interest and enhance their performance in long run. Additionally, as opined by Shaughnessy et al. (2018), in the refreeze step, the leaders try to arrange training program to support the employees for sustaining the change as well as celebrate success together. In this regard, the leaders try to arrange efficient technical training to direct and support all the staff and enhance their skill and efficacy for organisational excellence. Recently, there is high competition across the global markets, due to presence huge numbers of competitive brand sand substitute products. The leaders try to enhance their skill and knowledge through arranging training program including on the job and online training which further enhance the performance of the staff (Bolman and Deal, 2017).

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, the organisations focus on developing appropriate leadership style and strategies to manage the workers at the workplace. All the multinational corporate firm such as Tesco, Wal-Mart as well as in the electronic and telecommunication market Apple and sport industry including Nike and Reebok focus on managing the workplace successfully by developing suitable working circumstances and improving the organisational culture. For developing loyal workplace, it is necessary to develop strong corporate relationship with all the employees. The management team at the companies need to improve internal communication through implementing Information and Communication technology (ICT) as well as manage the employee portal for sharing feedback and reviewing their performance. Apart from that, it is necessary for the leaders to provide recognition and appreciation where the employees can feel the sense of achievement. This is an effective strategy to motivate the staff and manage the loyal workplace successfully.

For managing the loyal workplace, the leader also needs to fulfil the commitment at the workplace towards all the employees by providing them monetary and non-monetary rewards. Proper salary structure and incentives need to be paid to the employees within proper time, so that the workers can fulfil their basic needs and get motivated to perform better. In addition to this, the organisational leaders need to be loyal to each employee and manage diverse workplace for better management of skill set and experienced employees. For managing the local employees as well as expatriates, the company should focus on arranging the cultural training program, so that the employees can get the opportunity to know each other and understand each other’s values, beliefs, language and culture. This is effective for the employees to develop strong corporate bonding and work as a team further to achieve future organisational objectives. These are the effective strategic planning, through which the leader can manage strong employee base and manage them in long run for boosting their performance and achieving the organisational mission.

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Reference List

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