BLOG 4: Development as a Future Leader

The quality of a leader has some form of hierarchy within a group, in few scenarios the hierarchy is well defined and formal in nature which means the leader is on top or it is informal and flexible (Nahavandi, 2018). There is no best one way that describes whats an effective leader. The purpose of this blog is to elaborate my development as a leader for the future and what changes have taken place in my skill set through this course and managing experience. 

Tranformational Leadership

With all my ongoing MBA experience, I am more inclined to choose to be a transformational leader at I personally think its suitable for business in general. Organisational culture to maintain transformational mode, top management should make the required changes which involves thinking about what style of leadership be adopted (Bass, 2019). Transformational leader boosts motivation, moral of followers, morale and cater to their followers. Transformational leadership is directive and participative in nature (Bass, 2019) which is what I have in mind. I would choose to be this type of leader not only because its what I find the best way but it also personally suitable to me and to what kind of leader I personally want to be.

Source: (Summit, 2017)

Learning about Business and Transformational Leadership Style

Leadership and Culture are so deeply correlated to each other that it is evident to describe organisation culture characterised by qualities of transformational leadership. Transformational qualities tends to break expectations in organisational settings. (Xenikou and Simosi, 2006) These types of leaders tend to direct the organisation in the direction of intellectual stimulation, accomplishment and individual consideration. Block (1985) found that employees who saw their supervisor to be pretty familiar with transformational leadership were more involved to follow the organisational culture as integrating, adapted, involving and having a clear mission. (Block, 1985). It can be seen that transformational leadership has a very positive influence on organisational culture and excels businesses in multiple aspects and dimensions.

Turning into the Leader I Choose to be in Future

Time flies by much quickly that we generally expect, its important to ask yourselves what you want to be in the future. I personally want to become a transformational leader as it suits me and is similar to what I want from my future expectations.

Tasks assigned to me n my group at Coventry University.

My group members and I Coordinating to complete the task

My main goal as a part of the group was the coordinate with the members and come up with solutions to complete the tasks given to us in the course module of Leading in the changing world. It is a part of my MBA programme and what I have learnt from it is that when you work in a group, Communication and execution play a crucial role in any kind of team work. The leader stimulates these two aspects which is why the role of the leader is very important. Its always seen that the importance of a leader is sometimes overlooked, you have to also realise that the team you are working with should also be up to the mark as its very important. Instead of looking at the leader that leads the boat, the crew should also be considered very important for the boat to stay floating.

Learning Outcomes

I clearly observed that the group work from this module has given me first hand experience to practically face the hurdles and to find solution within a limited time frame. I made mistakes and didn’t realise it until later when I went back home. It made me realise that its important to have faith in yourself to make people work together and also to have that influence on people and trust for them to open up to you and express their solutions towards the gaols that needed to be achieved. The group work gave me confidence and happiness as it build up my self esteem as a leader. It also made me realise how important work experience is for personal development at multiple levels.

From my exposure as to becoming a leader, I have realised that being a leader need a mix of many qualities which involves faith in the future, Innovative vision, effective communication skills, trust and confidence by the followers, Influential traits, etc. All these combined makes the leader unique and differentiate them from the crowd. All the lessons I have learned from this MBA will be carried forward with me in the future for me to become the leader I intended to be.

References

Bass, B. (2019). [online] Citeseerx.ist.psu.edu. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.560.9456&rep=rep1&type=pdf [Accessed 6 Jan. 2019].

Xenikou, A. and Simosi, M. (2006). Organizational culture and transformational leadership as predictors of business unit performance. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21(6), pp.566-579.

Eagly, A. and Johannesen-Schmidt, M. (2019). Transformational, Transactional, and Laissez-Faire Leadership Styles: A Meta-Analysis Comparing Women and Men. [online] Studydaddy.com. Available at: https://studydaddy.com/attachment/98473/Transformational.pdf [Accessed 6 Jan. 2019].

Blog 3: Change Management

A business organization operates in a rapidly changing environment, while focusing on achieving two ideal goals that are maximising profits and having competitive advantage. To attain these goals an organization needs to acquire the skill of managing and adapting to change within the organization. (Malek and Yazdanifard, 2012)

According to Mullins (2010) a few people resist to these changes and strongly affix to the status quo, depending on their individual personalities which management can not help. However, Waddell, D., Sohal, A. (1998) state that for effective and efficient management change, resistance is vital as it maintains equilibrium between the need for change and stability of the organization. Therefore, helps obtain momentum for the organization’s survival.

This blog will discuss about change management and its implications. Thoroughly examining the impact of Brexit on businesses which has led to change in an organization. Further considering potential solutions and action plan for resistance towards change. Brexit has affected a number of London based companies, but has significantly affected UK based departmental stores, for example. I will be discussing about John Lewis in this blog.

Impact of Brexit on John Lewis & Partners

A chain of high-end departmental stores John Lewis & Partners is a public limited company which has suffered due to Brexit. The company is facing a fall in the rate of profit by 99% as Brexit has led to rise in prices and also reduced the customers purchasing power due to inflation, says Kollewe (2018). Furthermore, Sir Charlie Mayfield, the chairman mentions that it creates uncertainty in the economy making it difficult for the business to predict or plan for the future and take decisions. (Butler, 2018) He also adds that the costs incurred by the company has increased as Brexit has weakened the pound to euro, reducing company margins. (BBC,2018) Therefore, a need for change is seen in the operation of this organization.

Solution for John Lewis & Partners

A planned change is necessary to settle organizational struggles, by using Lewin’s well integrated change model that comprises of 3-steps: Unfreezing, change and Refreezing. (Burnes, 2004) John Lewis & Partners can use unfreezing to solve operation issues by implementing a different method of being efficient and reducing cost while increasing sales. This could be by adapting multi-channel propositions to create sales. All employees work towards driving cross channel sales even if it viewed as a threat to their sales opportunity. According to Lewin’s, next step will be change, to enforce employees to adapt to transformation in management to make operation cost effective, promote sales and retaining customers. Further refreezing this change as employees start to embrace it and organization is stabilized. However, this modification is until required as Brexit has uncertain results on the company.

As I mentioned above the change in an organization should be effective similarly Kotter (2012) believes that for successful transformation a rigid model, which is the 8-step change model should be followed as it focuses on creating major change while overcoming barriers. Adapting this method could be beneficial for John Lewis & Partners as the company makes strategic changes to its costs, sales techniques and customer approach which employees need to accept effortlessly to survive global competition during Brexit.

Action Plan to Overcome resistance to change

In an organization change is constant to survive, although this is necessary the company faces resistances to change by some of its employees. To overcome this

The company needs to interact with employees, making them more involved and help them go through the change. (Lawrence,1969) Developing confidence in employees towards change by managers following the Change Commitment Process established by Corporate leadership Council, will result is a positive reaction towards change by Employees.

Learning Outcomes

Overall, Brexit has an effect on business operations due to which John Lewis & Partners need to make obligatory strategical changes. Therefore, these changes can be implemented by Lewin’s and Kotter’s change models as its suitable for the John Lewis & Partners company environment. Additionally, following the action plan by managers will help the organization to successfully deliver the solution with commitment from employees rather than resistance.

In conclusion, John Lewis & Partners can tackle change during unforeseen circumstances like Brexit which brings uncertainties to the business. As Managers and leaders take appropriate action towards changing environment. Thus, application of change management models and action plans bring positive outcomes and support from employees. Hence, companies must be ready for continuous change as the industry is affected by a number of external and internal factors.  

References

Harvard Business Review. (2018). How to Deal With Resistance to Change. [online] Available at: https://hbr.org/1969/01/how-to-deal-with-resistance-to-change [Accessed 26 Dec. 2018].

Extracted from “Building Employee Commitment to Change” (2009) Corporate Leadership Council, HR Practice. [Accessed Dec 15. 2018].

Burnes, B. (2004). Kurt Lewin and the Planned Approach to Change: A Re-appraisal. Journal of Management Studies, 41(6), pp.977-1002.

BBC News. (2018). John Lewis boss rejects Raab Brexit jibe. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45506500 [Accessed 27 Dec. 2018].

Malek R., Yazdanifard R. (2012) Overview of Change Management and Its Implementation. In: Zhu M. (eds) Business, Economics, Financial Sciences, and Management. Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, vol 143. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

Waddell, D., Sohaw, A. (1998). “Resistance: a constructive tool for change management”, Management Decision, Vol. 36 Issue: 8, pp.543-548.

Kotter, J. (2018). Leading Change. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard business review press.

BBC News. (2018). John Lewis profits fall by more than half. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-41264277 [Accessed 27 Dec. 2018].

Butler, S. (2018). John Lewis profits dive by 99% as Brexit row erupts. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/13/john-lewis-profits-dive-99-percent [Accessed 27 Dec. 2018].

Kollewe, J. (2018). Five reasons why John Lewis profits have dived. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/13/five-reasons-why-john-lewis-profits-have-dived [Accessed 27 Dec. 2018].

Blog 2: Contemporary Leadership Styles: How relevant are they in today’s Changing world?

Leadership is a transition of socially influencing by understanding the efforts and talents of group members in order to achieve the groups various goals. (Leadership and Power, 2005 6-7). There is a need for various theories related to organisation and also leadership to overcome the cultural factor and identity what is more suitable for a specific organisation in different cultural settings (Triandis, 1993). This blog focuses mainly on leadership problems and analysis related to the market. I’m going to talk about the future, past and present of leadership theories and the changes to be made in terms of coping up with the changing world in the future.

Challenges of leadership theories

Theories and Research on leadership development has been taking place upwards of a century (Avolio, Reichard, Hannah,Walumbwa, & Chan, 2009). Importance should be placed on the necessity to combine socio-neuro-cognitive scientists in order to develop an integrated theory of leadership (Bennis, 2007).  Bruce Avolio (2007) Points out the main issues with leadership in this present era is psychologists still treat leadership as an individual phenomenon. Many models of leadership have set up to tackle different set of circumstances which its relevance in the present therefore can be questioned with no clear alternative at place. (Davenport, 2001)

(nuleadership.com, 2018)

Present problems of Leadership 

Leadership in 20th century was more production inclined whereas in the 21st century it is derived by knowledge and innovation for firms to sustain in the market. (Bettis & Hitt, 1995; Boisot, 1998). The mainstream bureaucratic mindset in common leadership theories in the past are not practical for our knowledge based era (Heckscher, 1994). The main challenge that poses leadership presently is how to develop a alternative and come up with solutions which tackles the well planned bureaucracy in the present world which hinders the growth of leadership in our modern era. Coming to feminine leadership, women are considered to be the “managers of 21st century” (Rosen et al., 1989; Schwartz, 1992; Fisher, 1998). Organisations works in a larger complexity, competitive and aggressive surroundings which arises a need to change leadership structures, strategies and theories in order to cope up with increasing business challenges. ( Conner, 1999: Higgs and Rowland, 2001). All of the above mentions keep the accuracy of leadership theories in doubt.

Challenges Leaders face in the changing world

According to Samuel R. Chand (2016), the number of challenges for leaders are numerous like difficulties related to crucial decisions on who to hire and the selection of the members of the team, time allocation which is to come out with most productivity in less time, Organisational alignment of informal and formal structures, finding the right mix of control and delegation within themselves, understanding decision making to make better ones, leadership developments in multiple aspects, capabilities of leaders to transition rather than change for smoother change, vision casting is a challenge as to cast vision in ways to prompt people for response, focusing on what is important and maintaining it. All of us know there is interest related to the doubt that development and training of authentic leaders can be effective is questioned.(e.g., May et al., 2003).

(http://drmat-ismail.blogspot.com, 2012)

Examples

PMC (2014) states that healthcare organisations largely think a well working organisation is akin to a well oiled machine, it produces a notion of performance being optimised when work is explained in detail and given to the operation units. Clinicians often object to these detailed specifications, while managers bemoan a lack of cooperation. Apollo group of hospitals follow transactional leadership which has caused biased opinions and inequalities within the organisation. Adair’s model can be implemented in order to raise the standards and overcome the need of shallow judgement.

(https://slideplayer.com/slide/14630238/, 2018)

Future of Leadership theories and research

According to Harrison, and Halpin (2008) although there is no shortage of developmental practices and theories of leadership, the missing part is comprehensive theories related leadership development. Authors are emphasising to shift from traditional focus on leadership skills and competencies into a more integrated model that gives importance to whole development to a person as a leader (Riggio, 2008). It is also suggested that combining research from education, developmental psychology and other disciplines will pile to what we know about leadership and how to most effectively develop next generation leaders.(Riggio, 2008). A similar view for future is seen in the recent work of bruce avolio (Avolio, 2005, 2007), self and adult development but includes the importance of role of followers, leadership culture and contest to stand by a more “Holistic” view of leader development.

REFERENCES

Google Books. (2018). Leadership and Power. [online] Available at: https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3g93IW0IBOUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA5&dq=inaccuracy+of+leadership+theories&ots=Af1FKXz16j&sig=NsfTr612yLYjhH4LSbieaA-6btY#v=onepage&q=inaccuracy%20of%20leadership%20theories&f=false [Accessed 19 Dec. 2018].

Riggio, R. (2008). Leadership development: The current state and future expectations. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 60(4), pp.383-392.

Paul E Plsek, T. (2018). Complexity science: Complexity, leadership, and management in healthcare organisations. [online] PubMed Central (PMC). Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1121291/ [Accessed 20 Dec. 2018].

Chand, S. (2018). What’s Shaking Your Ladder?. [online] Google Books. Available at: https://books.google.co.in/books?id=4EqUCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=challenges+faced+by+leaders&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi36a_n4azfAhWNe30KHZcBBkI4ChDoAQg8MAQ#v=onepage&q=challenges%20faced%20by%20leaders&f=false [Accessed 20 Dec. 2018].

Higgs, M. (2003). How can we make sense of leadership in the 21st century?. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 24(5), pp.273-284.

Pdfs.semanticscholar.org. (2018). [online] Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2e35/fe273da639bda2633a6385c4da852c14d1ce.pdf [Accessed 20 Dec. 2018].

Bennis, W. (2018). [online] Pdfs.semanticscholar.org. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4c3d/73a26d3d5ee5c2470cb50e68d8539d1d4250.pdf?_ga=2.142902513.556359157.1545254535-1641045345.1545254535 [Accessed 20 Dec. 2018].

Blog 1: Can Cultures be Managed within Organisation?

Adaptation of organisation culture

Culture in itself is a very diverse aspect within the organisation and has multiple ways to define it. In simple terms, organisational culture is the way the organisation operates on the basis of its core values and philosophy. (Businessdictionary.com, 2018)

I am from Hyderabad which is a state in India and we run a business of film distribution, construction of cinema halls and petroleum. Belonging to diverse businesses, it is pretty evident the business culture varies a lot and should be given a lot of importance. This blog is about the cultural set backs and challenges of the electric automobile company TESLA MOTORS and also to find solutions for the cultural problems.

Drawbacks and problems of organisation in terms of culture

Maintenance of a good organisation culture is one of the main difficulties faced by almost all the organisations, its proven that employees of the organisation having similar values in terms of  organisations values have better job satisfaction. One of the other challenges is to constantly implement the culture for its presence and effectiveness to work. The repeated reinforcement of culture is crucial but also is hard to carry out. Employees and workers feel lost if the organisation culture is changing constantly. Besides this, another challenge faces is keeping all the employees involved in the culture of the organisation. Keeping everyone involved is a tough task but also crucial for success. (AtmanCo, 2018)

Culture at TESLA MOTORS 

TESLA as we all know is known for its extraordinary forward thinking mission n vision. When it comes to culture within the organisation its important that the employees are excited for the work their doing and their contribution towards the company, its one of the best motivating factors and a very healthy culture to maintain within the organisation. Tesla’s vision and mission really enhances the culture within the organisation as employees are constantly motivated by how the company is changing the world and also that tesla employees are happy with what they are doing and all this is the good part but when it comes to the working culture of the employees at Tesla it has its own complex challenges to overcome. (Brooks, 2018)

Cultural problems faced by Tesla

There are number of problems at tesla starting with the workload and reward. Tesla has been on the news for putting intense pressure on their employees through long hours of work throughout the week with no extra perks or benefits payed to the employees. The workload is very high and the benefits given are not close to the long hours worked by employees. Over 150+ Glassdoor reviews of tesla employees say tesla has poor workload lifestyle and another 100+ reviews say the tremendous long hours have made many of the employees leave the company. (Glassdoor.co.uk, 2018)

Another problem is transparency. Transparency is an important aspect of organisation culture. Tesla does not make it clear what it expects from its employees which lead to miscommunication between the employees and the company at the workplace. (Glassdoor.co.uk, 2018)

Tesla also has hard time as it doesn’t make improvements and adjustments for better culture as it is preoccupied with very ambitious deadlines and disregarding the employees life at the company which made many high level executives and other employees leave the company. Culture changes overtime and it is important to cope up and make changes within the organisation to stay up to date. (Brooks, 2018)

Solutions to the cultural challenges at TESLA 

Looking at the above case, its clear that the company exhibits autocratic leadership in which the decisions and control are made by the top level management. In return this allows for less transparency among the lower and middle level management. To resolve this, the top level management of tesla should highly consider a more democratic style of leadership. In this kind of leadership the top level management would exercise less pressure on their employees, giving them more time to be encouraged and creative. thus increasing the efficiency at the workplace. (Mullins, 2016: 317-318)

According to Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension – Power Distance Index, Tesla is a company with high power distance where the higher level authorities can use their power to make employees work long hours and in rough situations. Employees have no say as the demand for tesla jobs is very high which gives leverage for the higher authorities at tesla to power to exploit the workers. Hence eliminating this distance would help tesla for gaining extras good will and also reduce the employees leaving the company to stop. This helps tesla stabilise their recruitment department and also make good name of treating their employees right. 

Conclusion

The key to successful organisation culture is to come up with a culture suited personally to ur organisation depending on the business field, have high priority to maintain the culture consistently and make sure all the members of the organisation are actively involved. Tesla needs to embrace the importance and make the following changes in their culture. 

References 

Boisvert, C. (2018). Organizational Culture: What are the Challenges. [online] AtmanCo. Available at: https://atmanco.com/blog/working-environment/organizational-culture-challenges/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2018].

Brooks, R. (2018). The Challenge of Maintaining Tesla’s Mission-Driven Culture – Peakon. [online] Peakon. Available at: https://peakon.com/blog/workplace-culture/tesla-company-culture/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2018].

Managementstudyguide.com. (2018). Edgar Schein Model of Organization Culture. [online] Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/edgar-schein-model.htm [Accessed 14 Dec. 2018].

Glassdoor.co.uk. (2018). Company Reviews. [online] Available at: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Tesla-company-culture-Reviews-EI_IE43129.0,5_KH6,21.htm [Accessed 14 Dec. 2018].

Tesla.com. (2018). Electric Cars, Solar Panels & Clean Energy Storage | Tesla. [online] Available at: https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2018].

Field, K. and Field, K. (2018). Elon Musk Takes On Corporate Hierarchy In Note To Tesla Employees | CleanTechnica. [online] CleanTechnica. Available at: https://cleantechnica.com/2018/05/15/elon-musk-takes-on-corporate-hierarchy-in-note-to-tesla-employees/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2018].

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton