Leadership Styles for Competitive Advantage

Part 1

The strategic leadership can be considered as the approach which is followed in the organization to influence others in achieving the goals or objectives. It can be considered as the style of management that is used to gain a competitive advantage in the economic as well as technological climate. It is the list of approach which is used as the strategy to motivate or encourage the number of employees in the organization. The transformation-leadership can be considered as the approach in which a leader works with the group of team members to identify the change in the organizational vision and also to execute the necessary change for achieving the goals. The leadership style is the method or the approach which is used to guide the entire team so that they can be able to get potential outcomes. This report will discuss leadership strategy as well as the model or style that is followed in one of the organizations Tesco Plc. The primary aim of the study is to understand and evaluate different leadership approach which can be used in the organization and also the role played by the transformation leader in executing leadership.

2.0 Discussion

2.1 Leadership theory or Strategy

According to the study or research of “Cashman, 2017” leadership is not only something the people do or act but something which comes from inside and something that comes from our beliefs, principle, experiences as well as motives. The leadership theory is basically the evaluation of how and why an individual becomes a leader (Cashman, 2017). It is the range of attributes as well as the behavior which can be adopted by the individual in order to gain leadership quality. Tesco Plc basically follows the transformation leadership theory in the organization that indicates that the leaders have some vision as well as passion in order to achieve goals. The primary vision of Tesco is to lead in the retail market and also how to makes a strategic decision that can help to achieve the goals of the company with the help of effective leaders. The management thus believes that the transformational leadership approach can be used here and gradual change in management is needed to get better outcomes. The management believes that in order to get successful leadership the workplace must be properly comfortable and motivational. They changed the workplace strategy allowing employees to do what they can think is comfortable work for them and also provide chances and opportunities to staff to gain any training and course offered by the company. Thus this adoption of transformational leadership theory helps Tesco in gaining a competitive advantage over the competitors in the market.

2.2 Leadership style at Tesco

The writers of the business Tannenbaum and Schmidt basically categorized leadership approach on a scale that ranges from autocratic to that of democratic. The company Tesco basically follows the democratic style of leadership in order to get better responses from the staff. Stephen who is the manager of Tesco stores from the last 10 years preferred the democratic approach of leadership useful as compared to others to motivate and direct employees. The managers encourage the staff to develop the plans and actions for the major stock-reduction program. The democratic leadership according to Stephen increases the encouragement and the motivation within each activity of the team members. The mistakes can be possible while implementing the activities for reaching a goal, but it can be used as a part of the learning experience (Arena and Uhl-Bien, 2016). The store-manager of Tesco has dealt with many critical situations but he is able to manage it by responding to that situation in an appropriate manner. The manager by following this approach of democratic leadership helps the company to examine the performance of employees every week through an easy audit process. This helps in delivering the right product at an effective deadline without any further restriction (hrelements.com, 2020). The every team members in Tesco is encouraged to participate in discussion and decision is taken with each member in the team having equal input. The information is basically passed from the higher management to that of employees so that everyone can pass their views or opinion which can be in favor of the growth of the organization (Mortimer, 2017). The company Tesco is able to adopt the democratic style of the leadership because of the existence of the flat structure that is enabling every individual staff to be a part of the success in an organization. According to the strategic report of Tesco for the year 2018, the company has organized the apprenticeship program in the United Kingdom for the employee who wants to develop a career in a different field. The company includes inclusive culture which allows the employee working in the organization to get a better level of flexibility, skills, and the necessary rewards that they need to get on (tescoplc.com, 2020).

2.3 Critical components of Strategic Leadership

One of the important components that are necessary for strategic leadership is the identification of clear vision. Tesco Plc. founds to have the proper vision to build a team that can be considered to be diverse and has the ability to reflect the community in which the organization is serving. The company thus decides to achieve this motive and then apply a range of strategic decisions to support business (Fatricia, 2017). The other most important factor is to sustain or create an effective organizational culture and company Tesco continues to develop an inclusive culture which means the staff can receive a flexible environment and also rewarded for achieving some level of excellence or completing the target which is set by the leader. The ethical practices are also considered to be one of the essential factors of strategic leadership and Tesco adopted and supported the zero-tolerance approach for bribery and the fraud and also encourage other partners who are connected with the business to follow. [Referred to Appendix 1]

3.0 Conclusion

Strategic leadership is one of the useful approaches that help the organization to motivate and encourage the group of teams. Tesco which is one of the known retail sectors adopted democratic style of leadership in which the staff are encouraged to share the opinion and also to enjoy the workplace according to their level of comfort. The company Tesco follows the inclusive culture and according to which the employees gets rewarded for every achievement in target.

Part 2

1.0 Introduction

The gradual change or the alternation in the objectives supports the ability of an individual to continue with it. The organization also changes dramatically to enhance their strategies which include their boundary, system and the expectation from the group of manager and the staff. The concept of change management aware anyone about what change actually happens and what benefits it will provide to the objectives of each and every individual in an organization. According to the research of author (Cameron and Green, 2019) in their book, there are basically five important perspective of the change within an organization that is individual change, organization change, team change, leading change and others. There are basically relations that exist in between the behavior and the outcome of the change in an organization. The theory of learning cycle by the author David Kolb states that the individual learn through doing and processing some activities or with change in actual management. The organization when undergoes the change related to the culture or leadership moving from focused organization to that of the flatter as well as responsive organizational structure encourage staffs to change the actual way they behave towards the customer or other associative of business. There are various activities which can be performed by the manager in order to achieve the better outcomes from the gradual change in organizational leadership or managerial strategy. The discussion with each of the members about the actual reason or the objective behind the change can be one of the impactful strategies which leaders can use. This part of the report will discuss the approach of transformational change in the management of Tesco which is one of the retail sector and how the change has supported the objectives of the organization.

2.0 Discussion

2.1 Change leadership and management model

According to the study or the research of the author (Okanga and Drotskie, 2016), the transformational leadership change can be relevant to that of the managerial change and transformation can be associated with that of the diversifications investment. The primary aim of the research which is conducted by the author (Okanga and Drotskie, 2016), in their journal is to critically analyze the number of transformational leadership theory as well as the behavior of the managers associated with the change. The author through this journal also aims to study or determine which transformational-leadership strategy is most appropriate and can be used in an organization. The number of transformational leaders provides the essential vision as well as the appropriate direction that helps in enabling the firm to determine or identify the appropriate diversification change in an organization (Lee and Kang, 2015). The transformational leadership basically offers the strategic leadership that minimizes the actual conflict occurring within an organization and fear of the outcomes that can be occurring from the change. The transformation leadership helps in the reduction of risks and failures which is occurring in an organization and enhanced the operational efficiency within an organization. The leadership theory which is proposed by the author Burns in the year 1978 states that the group of leaders and their associated followers inspired each other to receive the accurate level of expectations from both side (Okanga and Drotskie, 2016). The theory states that the needs of transformational leadership helps in curving the organizational direction in future to engage as well as motivate the group of followers in delivering the actual vision. The author House in one of his theory published in 1997 states that the factors that are associated with the transformational leadership are linked with behaviors which are goal articulation, role modeling, image modeling, high expectations and also the confidence that the followers is having in the team. The full-range transformational leadership theory that is proposed by the author (Bass and Avolio, 1997), states that transformational leadership is basically consists of five essential characteristics like attributed-behaviors, inspirational motivation from the leader or manager to that of the followers, intellectual stimulation among the group of followers and also the consideration of an individual. The individual consideration can be considered as the tendency of the leader to pay or provide attention to the group of employee needs as well as mentoring them to satisfy their actual objectives. The Schien’s model of organizational-culture and leadership (2003), states that the behavior of any transformation leader needs to get manifested to influence the actual change that can occur within an organization.

2.2 Change leadership and management in Tesco

The primary objective of the change in the organization or management is to get better outcomes which are linked with the objective. The company Tesco has adopted many changes in the organization and it is to win or gain the competitive advantage over the others in the market. The aim of Tesco behind this change management is also to support the core competencies and to create level of innovation and efficiency in technological or social environment. There are basically two essential factors that are responsible for driving change within the organization and that is external factor and internal factors. According to the Bruce Tuckman’s model of team change in the year 1965 the team once after building the level of maturity as well as the ability easily gets bonding between each of them. The leaders undergo various stages within any organization like retail is to direct the entire tea and also guide them and gets delegated finally. The primary aim of changing the leadership style is to gain the high level of performance within an organization. The leaders basically follow the four consecutive stages that are forming, Storming, Norming and Adjourning. The Tesco adopted few changes starting from implementing the CRM to that of adopting new technologies like Artificial Intelligence in order to support the people shopping experiences. According to the research of the author (Kim et al. 2019), Tesco suffers from the wide range of the withdrawn from the Korean market in the year 2015. It is not only because of the management failure in Tesco but also the company failed to do proper allocation of resources and guide team throughout the stages. The analysis of the author revealed that the range of product as well as the lack of accessibility to the store and decision from staff side is actual reasons behind the fall or market and the poor management. Thus company changed the plans and started democratic leadership style in which each and every employee get proper access to communicate and shared opinions and also the resources allocation is done properly by the management through it.

2.3 Models related to change management within an organization

The research of the Tang, 2019 concluded that there are various models which can be used to define the change management. The author mainly focused on three primary models which can be preferred or used for the business model or objectives. The three primary models related to the transformation change in the organization are ADKAR Model (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforce), Kotter’s 8 step change model, and Jick’s 10 step change model. Every business has their own abilities or objective to use any change management model for the better outcomes within an organization (Tang, 2019). The company Tesco can use Kotter’s eight stage model for the management of transformational leadership change in business.

ADKAR MODEL

The ADKAR model basically consisting of the five different elements or stages which are defined as below

Awareness change process

Changes related to Knowledge necessary

Ability to implement changes

Strength or Reinforcement to adopt and support the change

Thus this model can be used for creating a proper action plan and also it can helps in personal development of the individual while executing the necessary changes. The model can also diagnose the resistance that can impact the change or leadership or management at an earlier stage. The primary benefits of using this model is that it is easy to implement as well as effective in removing the gaps that are violating the success which can be possible through change or transformational in leadership approach of organization.

2.4 Role of leaders in change management at Tesco

The author (Awadari and Kanwal, 2019) conducted a survey with an aim to identify the role of employee to adopt and participate in changes at Tesco retail stores. The sample that is chosen for conducting the study consists of 3 managers working in the retail sector and the 13 number of staff who is working in the Kilburn branch of Tesco. The author finds that the management is well educated and plays vital role in effective communication with that of the staff related to the program of change. It is found that the communication is not that effective and helpful in the earlier stage of the change management as the assistants or staff adopted a negative attitude related to the fear of job-insecurity and also thought that it might replace their actual role. Thus because of the employee attitude and performance the company Tesco faced the difficulties at the earlier stage of change management program. Thus from this research or survey it is clear that the manager or the leader role is the most important or supreme in order to support the success of the change management program. The study of the author (Waiganjo et al. 2012), concluded that the role of strategic HR management or leadership is also essential in getting the desired objectives or the success in the change program of management (Solutions and Belt, 2017). [Referred to Appendix 2]

3.0 Conclusion

The change in management is a normal process which occurs within every organization like Tesco. There are various models like Kotter’s eight stage model and ADKAR model which can be used for the management of transformation or change in leadership. The company needs to understand which model can be effective as per the objectives which are assigned for the change in leadership.

Reference List

Cashman, K., 2017. Leadership from the inside out: Becoming a leader for life. U.S: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Arena, M.J. and Uhl-Bien, M., 2016. Complexity leadership theory: Shifting from human capital to social capital. People and Strategy, 39(2), p.22.

Fatricia, R.S., 2017. STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF TESCO SUPERMARKET. Jurnal Manajemen Terapan dan Keuangan, 6(02), pp.69-86.

Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2019. Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Asia: Kogan Page Publishers.

Awadari, A.C. and Kanwal, S., 2019. Employee participation in organizational change: A case of Tesco PLC. International Journal of Financial, Accounting, and Management, 1(2), pp.91-99.

Kim, W., Hallsworth, A. and Kim, H., 2019. On being local and being successful in Korea: Tesco and E‐mart. Area, 51(3), pp.461-469.

Okanga, B. and Drotskie, A., 2016. A transformational leadership model for managing change and transformation linked to diversifi cation investments. Southern African Business Review, 20(1), pp.414-445.

Solutions, I. and Belt, G.B., 2017. THE IMPACT OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGIC THINKING APPROACHES ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE OF COMPANIES OPERATING IN THE RETAIL INDUSTRY.

Tang, K.N., 2019. Change management. In Leadership and Change Management (pp. 47-55). Springer, Singapore.