Leading Business Organization
Part one
- a) Two fundamental questions I feel a leader should ask them include that – What should I do to motivate people and make people follow me?
-What goal do I serve as a leader?
- b) Two key aspects of leadership which I feel are very important is the maintenance of transparency and practice trust building within the followers. A leader failing to maintain transparency and trust will not be able to motivate people to follow him/her.
According to me, leadership style is pattern of behaviour that is followed by a leader to motivate its follower to attain specific goals (Rawat et al., 2019). The leadership style followed by a leader has a capability to influence the productivity, profitability and value outcomes of an organization.
Transformational and transactional leadership style is appropriate for leaders in this current business environment. According to Faiz et al., (2017) in transactional leadership, the leader sets goals and work accordingly whereas in transformational leadership style in associated with personal development and individual needs.
It is important for aspiring leadership to understand the different range of leadership style this will provide direction to the leaders and help in adopting effective approaches to lead subordinates.
Bowen et al., (2018) state that organizational vision is associated with the desired place which the organization wishes to achieve.
Organizational mission is the objectives for which the organization adopts certain approaches to reach a particular place (Bowen et al., 2018). Both mission and vision are pooled together to prepare goals and value of a particular organization.
An individual’s role in executing the mission and vision is attached with identifying the objectives and adopting approaches to meet them. With the help of these approaches, the performance expected from individuals is decided. The objectives also help in evaluating the behaviour which is required by the entire organization.
Leaders set simple objectives through which the mission and vision can be achieved. Their role to also look upon the effective completion of the objectives related to mission and vision along with providing effective guidance.
Stakeholders follow the individual goals and tasks provided to them. The successful completion of these tasks will help the organization to meet mission and vision. The behaviours displayed by the stakeholders help leaders to implement strategies
It is important for aspiring leaders to evaluate mission and vision and this sets the path by following an aspiring leader is able to achieve his/her individual goals. These also help in identifying the personal challenges which the aspiring leader has to overcome.
This appears as a map which aligns the strategy, aspiration and goals along with the development in leadership needed to be made in order to reach the mission and vision of the organization.
The capability of a leader is to drive and influence followers through a particular vision and personal advocacy, so that they become capable enough to develop a solid platform bringing change (Chiu et al., 2016). Effective leadership is often considered as a key that brings change.
Potential of an organization involving the structure and characteristics is referred as the organizational potential. According to Stormi et al., (2018) an organizational potential is judged through the way it utilizes resources to achieve its objectives and offers a favourable environment to its employees.
Business context is associated with the perspectives having an effect the business activities. It helps to identify objectives which are required to achieve the goals of an organization.
According to me, an aspiring leader should understand broad strategies of leadership so that he/she is able to make changes, control situations and adopt strategies that will help in the attainment of a specific goal and address different perspective to foster growth.
Motivation theory is objectified with identifying the characteristics which is required to influence or drive individuals to attain their individual goals or needs. These theories are developed by renowned authors with the objective to identify basic needs of human beings.
Motivational theories consist of two categories which involve extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Intrinsic motivation is associated with interest of an individual whereas extrinsic motivation refers to behaviours related to external factors like fame, money, praise.
Equity or Expectancy has been identified as the contemporary term for employee motivation. Lloyd and Mertens (2018) state that equity is associated with perceived value of an employee regarding an organization whereas expectancy is related to the probability of the behaviour demonstrated by an individual within the organization.
Sandars and Murdoch-Eaton (2017) state that appreciative inquiry is a methodology which is associated to organizational change and focus more upon strengths compared to the weakness. It consists of four steps involving dream, discover, destiny and design.
As per my knowledge it is important for aspiring leader to critically evaluate the various motivational theories as through it the leader will be able to identify the basic needs required for individuals. These theories will help identifying the behavioural characteristics that can be regulated to effectively motivate employees.
According to the questionnaire, potential leadership style is attached two major behaviours involving relationship and task orientation. Potential leadership is defined as the objective of the leader in influencing group performance and practicing supervision in order to motivate individuals and increase their level of performance.
My key strengths involve patience, emotional intelligence and effective communication which have to motivate my followers. My determination towards the achievements the goals is also a strength which has the ability to transform me into an effective leader.
My key challenges are associated with solving problems and barriers that come in my way while practicing effective leadership styles. These barriers act a hindrance in regulating the behaviours of my subordinates and thus influence them to achieve the objective of the team.
Personal development features that is required to be adopted by me is the practice of setting clear goals and prior evaluation of barriers that needs to be overcome while attaining the goals. Again discipline needs to be practiced by me so that I m able finish tasks within stipulated deadline.
Part B-
a) Introduction
In this management report, the effective leadership style followed by the CEO of Starbucks in enhancing both the production and profitability of the company. It has been observed that the CEO of Starbucks follows servant leadership which has led to the development of trust and admiration within Johnson by stakeholders of the company. The advantages and challenges of this style have been mentioned in this management report. The report also mentions the negative and positive aspects present in the leadership style followed by the CEO of the company along with involving recommendations that can provide competitive advantage and sustainability to the company.
Gandolfi and Stone (2018) sate that servant leadership is associated with a leadership practice in which power and authority is practiced by the leaders. It has been identified as the most fundamental leadership style as it is said to incorporate the elements that involve an effective leadership style. This kind of leadership style has been practiced from the ancient times and at critical situations leaders following this leadership style are able to attain a journey towards becoming a full-fledged leader. According to Gandolfi et al., (2017) leaders following this style are ambitious, proactive and highly goal driven. In these leadership styles the focus of the leaders are different from other leadership style. The primary focus of the leadership style is the followers compared to other styles focusing upon the mission at first. Servant leaders are associated with serving the followers who follow them and along with the teams; focus upon serving the organization and its mission. In this style of leadership, leaders are focused upon revealing strength through humility and discipline that is highlighted through leader’s ability to serve the needs of the followers at first (Gandolfi et al., 2017). Servant leaders have the ability to attain the mission of the organization by providing help to their followers in developing and succeeding.
Various companies in present days have identified the advantages of servant leadership are adopting styles accordingly to develop an ethical climate (Burton et al., 2017). Nordstrom is a company her than Starbucks which has adopted such styles of leadership in its stores. The company known for having a loyal fan base constitutes of an organizational model which is inverted pyramid. Under this model, the floor and the sales staff of the company are kept at the uppermost level and given the maximum importance compared to the directors and executive at the bottom. The company’s focus on the front end is not surprising as the Nordstrom brothers themselves are well recognized with the value required to serve in a servant leadership style.
Servant leadership has been argued by Gandolfi and Stone (2018) as a difficult and challenging leadership style as in reality it is difficult to attain compliance from the followers which is required to meet the vision and mission of an organization. Again, it has been observed that the understanding the servant style of leadership is often confused as the transformational style of leadership. The reason behind this is as because the servant style of leadership is itself an approach followed in the transformational style of leadership for the creation of a just and caring society. It has also been observed by Gonaim (2019) that as this leadership style depends upon the individual to understand the needs and the behaviours of its followers it requires openness and receptive characteristics of the leaders. Such characteristics of the leaders make the followers to facilitate behaviours on which the successful nature of this leadership style depend upon. The style also requires building charismatic effects which at time becomes difficult to be developed by an leader following the servant style of leadership.
The significance of employee strength is being understood by Kevin Johnson, the CEO of Starbucks. For this reason, the CEO has implemented strategies to empower its employees within the organization. This indicates that Johnson is well versed with the importance of appreciative inquiry within the organization. Appreciative inquiry has been considered as an organizational approach which focuses upon the strengths rather than the weakness existing within an organization (Gaskin and Williams, 2017). It is a method through which the best-fitted employees of an organization can be identified. Starbucks has also identified the four concepts involved in appreciative inquiry which involve design, dream, destiny, and discover. For this reason the servant style of leadership has been displayed by Johnson. In his leadership style, understanding the requirements of the organization, Johnson has implemented innovative and transformational practices that are bringing achievements within the organization. As opined by (Oedzes et al., 2019) as an effective leader, he has identified the need to empower its employees and strengthening them. For this reason, Johnson provides full tuition coverage to the company’s aspiring employees. Again, closing the low performing stores highlights his ability to identify problems and take quick actions accordingly.
There have been several positive elements associated to the leadership style followed by Johnson which led to the display of bullish behaviour of investors on the strategies adopted by Johnson. Johnson leadership style has been displayed to have long term visions by which he is leading to the growth of the company. The measured approaches adopted by Johnson have led to display successful performance by the company. It is under the positive leadership of Johnson, that the shares of Starbucks raised by 15%. Schnurr and Schroeder (2019) state that analytical and data driven leadership approaches of Johnson highlights his goal driven nature and the discipline maintained within his leadership style has led to the growth of the company.
The negative element associated to the leadership style of Johnson that has been mentioned in the case study is related to the lack of understanding the needs of its employees. Again, reports of racial discrimination occurring within the organization points out the underlying weakness of the CEO in identifying and controlling the environment prevailing within the stakeholders of the organization. It has been identified by Bowers et al., (2017) that a major weakness of a leader is related to inability to control the stakeholders. Though he has been able to tackle some of the ongoing ethical challenges within the company it is unable to handle the various problems faced by the employee within the stores. The leadership style through providing benefits to the company has been unable in reducing the stress faced by the employees which is a significant factor as employees appear as one of the most important stakeholders of the company.
The key shareholders of Starbucks are the investors, customers and the employees attached to the company. The methodologies adopted by Johnson have been praised by the shareholders and has been considered to bring benefits for the stakeholders. Investors of the company view the leadership style followed by Johnson to bring positive advantages as it focuses upon a measured approach and extending the growth of the stores in USA along with the successful utilization of technologies has extended the services of the company. Its progress tracing approaches has led to the display of bullish behaviour by the investors. Again, the benefits provided to the customers and employees by expanding and improving services to the customers along with providing benefits to employees in form of SCAP (Starbucks College achievement Plan) has led to the development of positive opinions within the employees and the customers regarding the leadership style of Johnson (Bowers et al., 2017). However, negative opinion regarding the leadership style of Johnson is due to the lack of his understanding regarding the problems and un-ethical situations faced by its stakeholders within the stores of the company.
The approaches followed by leader have a positive impact upon the company which indicates the strong personal brand possessed by Johnson. Johnson has been following a measured approach through which the CEO plans to bring more financial discipline within the company. This long term and discipline principles highlight the CEO’s characteristics of an effective global leader. As opined by Fiaz et al., (2017) an effective leader is able to manage finances, marketing and human capital wisely. This feature of an effective leader has been identified by Johnson and for this reason the CEO has effectively managed the finances of the company by closing the non-performing stores and implementation of technologies within the various operations of the company. Leadership avenue in also connected with understanding the needs in the present era of global development (Sandberg et al., 2017). For this reason the CEO has arranged achievement plan for the employees of the company in order to empower them in the present scenario.
Again, the quick nature of the CEO in handling difficulties highlight the goal driven and highly disciplined leadership style followed by the CEO. This can understood from the reports of racial discrimination practices raised against the company. The CEO’s quick response and apologetic behaviour indicates his sincerity in managing tasks and dealing with challenges coming in his way. The leadership style followed by the CEO is not based upon assumptions. Johnson takes decisions on the basis of the data obtained from the different activities of the company. He has also adopted strategies by which he evaluates performance of every activity within the company. This adoption of new technologies highlights the progressive nature of the leader and thus display that he has the ability to take corrective measures that can bring advantages to the company.
It is due to the leadership style followed by the CEO that has helped the company to raise its share prices and has been able to bring growth for the company. As opined by Fiaz et al., (2017) a leader is considered to as prominent when he/she is able to bring prominent impacts upon the company by enhancing the profitability and productivity of an organization.
The leadership style has also involved acquired inquiry within the various practices of the company. For strengthening the structure of the company he has also adopted benefits for the stakeholders of the company (Anderson and Sun, 2017). Providing facilities to the aspiring worker the CEO is trying to transfer the environment of the company so that it brings positive impact upon the performance demonstrated by Starbucks (Fiaz et al., 2017). Johnson through his methodological approaches has also been able to win hearts of the shareholders. It is credit of its analytical driven approaches through which the company in its recent times have been able to expand its services through the effective use of modern technologies. This effective use of technologies also highlights the characteristics of the CEO which admired and trusted in his work. Thus the effective management of the stakeholders of the company indicate the efficiency of the leadership style practiced by Johnson which provides him the capability to emerge as a global leader.
It has been identified through the provided case study that though the leadership strategy adopted by Johnson has helped the company in delivering good results and having a positive impact upon the performance displayed by the company, there has been several problems which the CEO of the company fails to address. Reports of unethical practices and unhappiness of the employees working in the store indicate the underlying weakness existing within the leadership style followed by Johnson. There have been complaints of the employees which Johnson has failed to address. The employees of the company have complained regarding the busy hours existing within stores of the company. Employee perspective states that the stress faced by the employees at Starbucks is overwhelming. The lacks of identification of such perspective indicate the weakness of the leadership style followed by Johnson. As it has been identified by De Vito et al., (2018) that leader plays a significant role in fulfilling the need of the subordinates. For this reason it becomes evident for the company to adopt strategies by which they can effectively manage the different activities within the company and this avail competitive advantage and sustainability within the company. Two recommendations which can be adopted by the company to improve its operations have been mentioned here. The complaint of the employees and their different perspectives makes it important for the company to take actions and reduce their stress. The stress exposed by the employees within the stores of Starbucks can be reduced by hiring more workforces within the stores. The employees of the company should also provided with flexible working hours and thus offer benefits by which they are able to maintain an effective work-life balance. As opined by De Vito et al., (2018) work-life balance will motivate the employees and flexible hours will also retain the energy so that the employees are able to perform for a longer time period. Rewards and benefits should be provided to the employees to motivate them from time to time.
Along with enhancing benefits of the employees, special attention to the customers should also be provided by the company. Reports of racial discrimination indicate the weakness of the company. Johnson should implement strict rules and regulations within the stores through which each customer is treated with extensive care and provided with superior quality of product and service. For ensuring this special training sessions should be provided to be employees for effective handling of customers in the stores. Along with the employees, benefits and loyalty programs should also be arranged by the company in order to enhance the base of customers and retain customers for a longer time period. Thus, for the company to gain competitive advantage it is important for effectively management of the interest of both employees and shareholders as they play important role for gaining sustainability and competitive advantage. Suitable maintenance of the stakeholders will not only increase the efficiency of the operation but also help the company in reaching its desirable position.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be said by assessing the leadership characteristics of Johnson that he possesses the qualities of acting as an effective role model for the aspiring leader. As an effective leader, the methodologies and approaches followed by him have been able to enhance both the production and profitability of the company. The discipline and the quick action features followed in his leadership style highlight his goal driven nature. Presence of such characteristics with an aspiring leader can bring positive results for both the team and the subordinates. Again, the CEO’s adoption and effective use of modern technology in increasing the efficiency of the services of the company indicates his smart and appropriate decision making skills which make him an appropriate role model.
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