Developing Strategic Management and Leadership skills

Note:The chosen Organisation for the assignment is Tesco

Introduction

Tesco is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt,

United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues

(after Wal-Mart and Carrefour) and the second-largest measured by profits (after Wal-

Mart). It has stores in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America and is the

grocery market leader in the UK (where it has a market share of around 30%),

Malaysia, the Republic of Ireland and Thailand.

The company was founded by Jack Cohen in 1919 and opened its first store in 1929 in

Burnt Oak, Edgware, and Middlesex. The Tesco name first appeared after Cohen

purchased a shipment of tea from T.E. Stockwell and combined those initials with the

first two letters of his surname. Originally a UK-focused grocery retailer, Tesco has

diversified both geographically and into areas such as the retailing of books, clothing,

electronics, furniture, petrol and software; financial services; telecoms and internet

services; DVD rental; and music downloads.

Tesco is chosen for the assignment due to certain reasons. Tesco is one of Britain’s

fastest-growing and most innovative retailers, recognized as one of the best

companies to work for in the UK. Tesco gives their employees clear objectives and

expectations. At the same time, they also allowed more freedom for individual

initiative than most other retailers, as they believe that it is ultimately this sort of

personal touch that can make all the difference to their customers. (:

http://www.tesco.com)

Task(1.1): Explain the link between strategic management and leadership .

To explain the link between strategic management and leadership we should

have a clear understanding of what these two terms actually mean. After

understanding these two terms we can easily explain the link between them.

Strategic Management: According to Barratt and Mottershead (2000), strategy is

described as the way of achieving our objectives. Strategy enables us to ensure

that all our work and things we do every day are going to help us in the long term

interests of the organization.

Strategic Management is the process of establishing and maintaining good

strategies. Making and defining strategy is not enough, you will have to work out

a plan for implementing that strategy in its true spirit. Good strategic

management is plays a key role in approaching business opportunities and

challenges.

Leadership: There are different ways of describing leadership so it is very

difficult to provide a single definition that fulfills the task. As Brindley and

Buckley (2004) argued that, “Leadership has been identified as the process by

which individual and group activities are influenced towards organizational

goals”. The same thing is narrated in Business Management Study Manual

compiled by The Association of Business Executives (2007). They are of the view

that, “Leadership is a process by which individuals are influenced so that they

will be prepared to participate in the achievement of organizational or group

goals.” While Marcousé (2008) narrates that, “Leadership, at its best, means

inspiring staff to achieve demanding goals.” All these things emphasize on one

basic idea and that is Inspiration or Influence. So we can say that Leadership is

the art of getting things done by inspiration or influence of the leader on its

followers while Management mainly depends on the analysis and ground

realities.

After all the discussion we came to the conclusion that Leadership and Strategic

management are interlinked with some minor differences. In the case of strategic

management we are trying our best to achieve some long term goals and the

same is the case with leadership. In both cases we should have someone with a

broad vision; either it’s a leader or a manager. The bottom line of all this

discussion is beautifully captured by the golden words of Field Marshal Slim that

(quoted in Business Management Study Manual), “Leadership is of the spirit,

compounded of personality and vision: its practice is an art. Management is more

a matter of accurate calculation, of statistics, methods, timetable and routine: its

practice is a science.”

Task(1.2): Analyze the impact of management and leadership styles on

strategic decisions .

Leadership and Management Styles: There is famous saying that, “Change is

the only unchangeable thing in nature” (Heller & Hindle, 2008). Similarly in our

daily life things are changing rapidly and we have to adopt ourselves to these

changes. We can’t say that we will remain in the same situation forever. We have

to act according the situation. Similarly there certain ups and downs in

organizations as well. So the managers and leaders adopt different styles for

different situation. According to Whitcomb (2000), some famous and widely

recognized styles are:

a) Autocratic: In this style people are told what to do and how to do. They

have no role in decision making. Once made, a decision must not be

questioned.

b) Democratic: In this style decisions are made on the views of as many

people as possible that are involved.

c) Passive: In this style people are given general directions on the tasks to be

tackled and then left alone to achieve them in the way they think is best.

d) Charismatic: In this style leader influences and motivates others because

of his/her outstanding personality or character.

As mentioned earlier, that these styles depend on certain situations and to be a

good leader/manager you would have to adopt all of them. All these styles of

management and leadership have certain impact on strategic decisions. The

organizations led by Autocratic leader are basically Task Oriented. According to

Jenkins and Hamman (2001), the advantage of such style is that the decisions are

made quickly because people know where they stand. But the employees in such

organizations are not happy to some extent because they have no role in decision

making. As Barratt and Mottershead (2000) is of the opinion that in Autocratic

leadership the Work-force is not encouraged to think for itself, and emphasis is

more on quantity than quality.

While the organizations led by Democratic leaders have proved good because

they are both Task oriented as well as Relationship oriented. But according to

Barratt and Mottershead (2000) the decision making process is slow and that

can be dangerous.

And the organizations led by Passive style are Relationship oriented. And

Marcousé (2008) is of the view that this only occurs when the manager is very

busy or very lazy or has confidence on his/her team and knows what they are

capable of. According to Whitcomb (2000), Charismatic style of leadership is

very rare but can be very successful in the extent to which they can motivate

others to do things to support them.

Task(1.3): Evaluate how leadership styles can be adopted to different

situations.

Leadership styles can be adopted according to the situations. For example;

during a war a commander has to make quick decisions (Brindley and Buckley,

2004), or in the case of a natural disaster there is no time for suggestions from

the people, so autocratic style will be perfect. The bottom line is that for quick

decision you should always go for the Autocratic style. In the case of a Research

and Development Organization, employees are highly trained, skilled and

professional people, so the style that best suits this situation is Laissez-faire.

Because employees know what they are doing and what are their goals. And the

situation that is the best candidate for Democratic style is a youth club planning

for their summer camp. They will have to take suggestions from all the persons

involved and then will make a decision. In this case the decision making process

is slow but effective at the end of the day.

Task(2.1): Review the impact that selected theories of management and

leadership have on organizational strategy in your chosen organization .

Every single person on this earth is different. The difference may be in way of

thinking, analyzing something, working or implementing something. Along the

course of life humans made many theories about things around them, some of

them were wrong and some proved successful. Human are called the most

superior species on planet earth and this superiority is due to the fact that

humans learn from their mistakes. So humans learnt a lot from their mistakes

and devised new theories. In this task we are going to focus our attention on the

different theories of leadership and management made during 19th and 20th

century.

Theories of management and leadership: According to Morris (1999), “The

first-rate way of making a fool of oneself is to propose as new an approach tried

and rejected by earlier generations”. There are a lot of ways of doing something,

some of them have been tried before and some are not. So a successful manager

always learns from the past experiences and tries not to repeat the mistakes. The

20th century has seen many theories of management applied to the

organizations; some of them are described below.

a) The Classical School: According to Morris (1999), this approach is based

on the main purpose and the structure of the organization. The

organization is just like a machine, just feed the input and get the output.

The role and position of every individual is defined. People are supposed

to do things as mentioned by the higher level, human feelings are

irrelevant.

b) Bureaucracy: The main emphasis is on the performance and duties of the

individuals. The duties of the all the individuals are fixed according to the

area of their expertise. And like Classical School theory, human feelings

are irrelevant.

c) Systems Theory: This theory was developed in 1950s and 1960s. The

theory is based on the working of a typical system. It takes certain input

(raw material, people) and transforms them through a process into

output (organizational goals).

d) Human Relations Theory: This theory was developed in 1930s. The main

theme of this theory is the human relations. The Association of Business

Executives in Organizational Behavior mentioned that, “to understand and

improve an organization, you need to understand the people who work

for it.”

e) Contemporary Theories: These theories are based upon the idea of

sticking to the key functions of the organization and puts emphasis on

going towards excellence.

f) Contingency Theories: This theory emphasizes that there is no single

particular way of running an organization. Everything is dependent on the

situations through which the organization is passing by.

Impact on Tesco: Tesco is one of the leading organizations, with a vision of

providing people everything they need, under one roof at affordable price. Now

we see the impact of the selected theories of management on the strategy of

Tesco. The impact of Classical School theory on Tesco’s strategy is a bit

disappointing because Tesco believes in excellence with the help of its

employees. So the Classical Theory is surely going to inversely affect the strategy

of Tesco. The Bureaucratic Theory’s impact is similar to the Classic School

Theory. But this approach is providing a helping hand in organizing the overall

working of the Tesco. But only defining the duties of the employees and

organizing them is not enough. The Tesco’s strategy is to run the organization in

a disciplined manner, keeping in mind the feelings of its employees. The impact

of Human Relation Theory on Tesco’s strategy is not good enough. It should be

kept in mind that this theory alone is not enough to provide any progress in long

term. But the good thing about it is that it takes into account the ideas of all the

employees. The Contemporary and Contingency Theories have a good impact on

Tesco’s strategy. Both these theories are leading Tesco towards excellence.

Changing the style according to the situation and sticking to the overall

performance is surely good enough for Tesco’s progress in long term.

Task(2.2): Create a leadership strategy that supports organizational

direction in your chosen organization.

We have seen the impact of different theories of management and leadership on

the strategy of Tesco. And we came to the conclusion that there is no single

theory that can support Tesco’s strategy. Everything depends on the situation of

that organization in a particular time frame. So in the case of Tesco the best

strategy that supports organizational direction is the Bureaucratic approach

along with a flavor of Human Relation theory. The Bureaucratic approach will be

helpful in achieving the organizational goals and keeping everything on track. It

will also help Tesco to maintain its day-to-day budgets in control and will make

some serious profits for the organization. The Human relation approach will take

into account the feelings and needs of the staff and the people attached with

Tesco. It will ensure that the workforce is enjoying its time working with Tesco

and take their work to perfection. This new combination will be very helpful in

maintaining the discipline in the organization and will be very beneficial for the

employees. So the working and the progress of Tesco will be very smooth. The

people will be aware of their position and duty in Tesco and they will be free to

work out a plan for performing their duties efficiently. Although this new

leadership strategy seems a bit odd to many people but if it is implemented in its

true spirit, it will be very helpful.

Task(3.1): Use appropriate methods to review current leadership

requirements .

There are certain methods available for reviewing the leadership requirements.

Some of them are listed below.

Blake and Moulton’s Managerial grid: According to Mullins (2005), Blake and

Moulton’s Managerial grid is one of the several methods available for reviewing

leadership requirements. According to this method, all managerial and

leadership styles are reviewed on the basis of two main rules. 1. Concern for

Results; and 2. Concern for People. In the first case, manager diverts all its

energy on the accomplishing of tasks in given time. This is shown along the

horizontal axis on the grid. While in second case, employees and their needs are

given importance. And this is represented along the vertical axis of the grid.

Barratt and Mottershead (2000) have narrated this grid as a Matrix of

managerial styles.

Figure: Blake and Moulton’s Managerial Grid

(Source: http://www.gridod.com/images/LeadershipGrid.jpg)

The numbers inside the grid indicate the degree of concern of the mangers. For

example; managers with a rating of (9,1) practice Autocratic style because they

show little concern for the employees. On the other hand, a rating of (1,9) depicts

the behavior of a Democratic manager. It is also referred as “Country Club”

management by some authors. According to my research and findings, the

management style of Tesco, on the basis of Blake and Moulton’s managerial grid,

should be rated as (7,5).

360° Feedback:

According to Mullins (2005), “The idea of 360° feedback involves an appraisal

and feedback from different groups within the work situation – peers and

subordinates as well as bosses, and possibly internal and external customers.”

The main purpose of the 360° feedback is to highlight the strengths and

weaknesses of an individual or an organization. It may include a self-assessment

questionnaire. This feedback helps in overcoming the weaknesses and exploiting

the strengths of the organization.

Figure: Mulins’s 360 Degree Feedback Cycle

Source: http://recordtracker.net/images/pic_360.gif

MBO (Management by Objective): Another common approach in reviewing

leadership and management styles is Management by Objectives commonly

known as MBO. According to Mullins (2005, p. 249), MBO is a system of

management which is aimed at relating the organizational goals to individual

performances and development through the involvement of all levels of

management. While Morris (1999), is of the view that the top manager should set

an overall objective, and should convey it to the lower management for

completion. MBO is potentially an attractive system. It provides an opportunity

for staff to accept greater responsibility and to make a higher level of personal

contribution. {Mullins (2005)}

Source: http://leapcomp.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/mbo-process-cycle2.gif

Mc. Gregory’s Theory X and Theory Y: The figure defines both the theories in

detail. The bottom line is that Theory X is Task oriented and Theory Y is

Relationship oriented.

Source: http://www.vectorstudy.com/management_theories/img/theory_x_y.gif

Task(3.2): Plan for the development of future situations requiring

leadership .

A good leader is always prepared for the any kind of challenge. He acts quickly

and accurately according to the given situation. We can say that a good leader

takes the right decision at the right time. I have listed a couple of future

situations here that will require a firm leadership.

Conflict Resolution: You cannot stop conflicts from occurring between

individuals and organizations. Sometimes these conflicts are useful and

sometimes they are not. When I say useful, it means that sometimes new ideas

are created from these conflicts. Or these conflicts point to a deficiency or a week

point in the management of the organization. So they are helpful in pinpointing

the lapses. On the other hand sometime these conflicts leave a bad impression.

Whatever the reason is, conflicts should be resolved smoothly. So for the

purpose of conflict resolution a leader should be there with a remedy. And it is

then up to the leader to resolve that conflict in any way he likes; whether by

choosing Autocratic style or by Democratic style.

Merger and Acquisition: Another most important situation for an organization

is merger or acquisition. It’s a really very difficult decision. You have to be very

accurate in your calculations and should have a good insight of market trends. A

leader with a vision and deep thinking is essential in this case. Either you are

going for merger or going for acquisition, you should be able to foresee the state

of your employees and organization in coming years.

Recession: A couple of years ago there was no concept of recession on a large

scale. But now many of the world’s most popular economies are facing difficult

times. Now-a-days recession has become a worst nightmare for many people

around the globe. And according to the economist it is the only chance for

organizations to control their budget. So for recession there should be a strong

leader with a clear cut policy. This is the worst case scenario and a true test of a

leadership that how it overcomes recession.

Adaptation for change in technology, taste and performance: Change is the

unchangeable law of nature. And adaptation for change is very difficult for

certain organizations and it may be due to many factors. One of the key factors is

that many old employees don’t welcome change because they are used to work

in old fashion and any change in technology, taste and performance is a bit

difficult for them. So a sincere leadership is required for any change to become

successful in organization, a leadership that is able to remove the ambiguities

from the minds of all employees about the nature of the change.

Natural Disaster: Another very important situation that requires a leadership is

a natural disaster. During the period of a natural disaster many employees and

organizations are in a state of ambiguity. They are unable to perform their duties

efficiently. That’s why a firm and dedicated leadership is required, that is capable

of overcoming the difficulties, and is capable enough to restore the confidence of

the employees and organization.

Task(4.1): Plan the development of leadership skills for a specific

requirement .

There are certain skills that every leadership should possess. True leaders have

these skills in their genes and others adopt them during the course of their life.

But one thing is certain that these skills are present in all the great leaders of the

world. The possession of these qualities is not enough; a good leader should be

able to develop these skills and to be able to apply them in accordance with the

requirement. A good leader possesses the right skills and uses them in the

behavior that best suits the current situation. The main skill of a leader is its

influence. A good leader always uses its influence on its followers to obtain the

best results. Inspiration can bring huge changes in organizations. So a good

leader should always try to develop and enhance its influence by empowering its

employees. So this skill can be developed by self-help by learning from mistakes.

A good leader should have good communication skills. He should be able to

communicate easily with his team members. Now-a-days the world is becoming

a global village and to become a good leader, one has to be able to understand

the feelings of others. So a leader should practice more and more to master this

skill. A good leader should always be adaptable to change. He should have a

vision and he should try to introduce modern ways of getting things done. He

should encourage his staff to use new technology and new techniques for their

routine work. He should be confident and determined in his vision. So he should

arrange seminars and workshops to convey his vision to his followers. A good

leader should be unbiased; he should be able to manage diversity within an

organization. He should be role model for all the employees from any origin. He

should be punctual and honest. It’s only through his own punctuality that he can

maintain discipline in the organization. A good leader should be able to

communicate the policy and regulations of the organization to every single

employee. And that can only happen when he first exercises them himself before

communicating to others. He should be able to expand the organization in all

ways possible. He should be able to appoint new staff and train the old staff

according to the new technology. He should arrange training courses and other

developmental activities for his company. He should also use his powers to keep

the organizations on track. And most importantly he should use his power of

rewarding for winning the heart of his employees. He should be a good speaker

so that in any situation he is able to explain the position of organization in an

effective manner. A good leader should possess good coordination skills for

maintaining the integrity between different departments of the organization.

Discipline should be the main thing for a leader and there should be no excuse

for it. Because it is the main factor that can change the fate of the organization. A

good leader should be honest and well-wisher of its people. He should stick to his

commitments and promises. A leader should be a good listener; it helps him in

overcoming the weaknesses of the organization and sometimes gives him a

chance to grab some new ideas as well.

Task(4.2): Report on the usefulness of methods used to plan the

development of leadership skills .

There are certain methods that we can use to plan the development of leadership

skills. One of the best methods is to call a meeting of the staff and ask about their

ideas. The best method, however, is 360° feedback. It helps you in understanding

your exact position in organization. Another widely used method is to gather as

much information as you can about the life of great leaders. It will help you in

adopting their skills and their secrets of the trade. Another way of developing

leadership skills is to get familiar with your followers. It will help you in

understanding their feelings and their needs, which in turn will help you in

managing their needs. So we used different plans for the development of

leadership skills including; seminars, meetings, training courses, self-help,

learning from mistakes and a lot others. All these methods are very useful to plan

the development of leadership skills. Seminars and workshops are very helpful

in understanding the point of view of other people. Training courses help in

understanding and overcoming new challenges. These courses help

organizations to implement effective ways of getting things done. They also help

in creating a learning environment in an organization. Meetings should be

arranged regularly; this will help a leader in developing his communication and

coordination skills. Another very important method is exchange visits. These are

very helpful in developing leadership skills. These visits may be between

different sections of the same organization or between different organizations.

These are very helpful in developing the leadership skill of managing diversity.

References:

Barratt, Mottershead. (2000), Business Studies, Italy, G. Cannale & C. S. p. A

Borgano T. se – Turin.

Brindley, Buckley. (2004), Business Studies, A-Level Study Guide, Hants, Ashford

Color Press, Gasport, Hants: Pearson Education Limited.

Business Management Study Manual, The Association of Business Executives.

Heller, Hindle (2008), Essential Manager’s Manual, London: A Penguin Company

Marcousé, Surridge and Gillespie (2008), Business Studies for A Level, Third

edition, Italy: Hodder Education.

Morris, M.J. (1999), The First Time Manager, 2nd Edition, London: Clays Ltd, St

Ives plc.

Mullins, L. (2005), Management and Organizational Behaviour, 7th Edition, Essex;

Pearson Education Ltd.

The Association of Business Executives, Organizational Behaviour

Whitcomb, A. (2000), Comprehensive Business Studies, 5th Edition, Essex:

Pearson Education Limited.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=sl

(Accessed on 13th October, 2010)

http://www.Tesco.co.uk (Accessed on 13th October, 2010)

http://top7business.com/?id=2113 by Akhil Shahani (Accessed on 20th October,

2010)

Bibliography:

Greene, Stellman (2005), Applied Software Project Management, O’Reilly Inc.

Jenkins, Hamman (2001), GCSE Business Studies, Italy: Hodder and Stoughton

Educational

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn (2002), Organizational Behavior, 7th Edition, USA:

John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/research/LeadershipStrategy.pdf (Accessed

on 13th October, 2010)

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=sl

(Accessed on 13th October, 2010)

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/strategy.html (Accessed on 13th

October, 2010)

http://www.zeromillion.com/business/leadership-strategy.html (Accessed on

13th October, 2010)

http://www.b