Definition of leadership

Task 1

Leadership and Importance

Introduction

The essay helps in analyzing the concept of leadership along with the importance of leadership in organizations. The leadership is defined as the ability of the different superiors in order to induce the subordinates in the workplace to perform their tasks with confidence. The importance of the leadership in organizations includes providing effective direction that helps in attaining different objectives. The positive kind of leadership helps in providing motivation to employees; it helps in development of the team spirit as well. The importance of leadership in Tesco has to be analyzed along with analysis of the characteristics of the leadership styles that has been discussed in the case study.

The main aim and purpose of the essay is to analyze the importance of the leadership in Tesco. The different characteristics of leadership styles such as democratic, autocratic and laissez-faire at Tesco will be discussed in the below sections.

The structure of the essay includes the introduction of the leadership along with the different styles of leadership at Tesco. The characteristics of the leadership styles that are used at Tesco are used in an effective manner.

1. A) Importance of Leadership at Tesco

Definition of leadership

Leadership is defined as the process wherein the superiors of the company help in establishing clear vision of the different activities that has to be performed by them. Unlike the concept of management, leadership is the term that cannot be taught to different individuals and it can be enhanced with mentoring or coaching with different individuals in an effective manner (Raina & Roebuck, 2016).

Examples of good leadership

Bill Gates is one of the examples of the best leader as despite his different failures, Bill Gates continued his passion along with innovation and due to his will, and he has driven Microsoft to the success and achieved his goal by taking the entire software industry to the peak of success. The trait theory can be applied in the leadership of Bill Gates, as he was a great leader; however, there were different failures in his life despite of such appropriate traits (Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy, 2014).

Importance of leadership

Leadership is essential in different organizations as this helps in attaining different kind of objectives in the organizations. The effective leadership helps in directing different activities of the organization towards the attainment of the organizational goals. The leadership of the superiors in different organizations helps in creating confidence among the subordinates by providing proper advice and guidance (Casimir et al., 2014). The good kind of leadership skills help in increasing the morale of the employees and this helps in contributing towards the increased productivity. The effectual kind of leadership helps the company officials in providing team spirit that is essential for the success of the organization (Skogstad et al., 2015).

Examples of good leadership

Two Importance of Leadership at Tesco

In Tesco in store bakery, Berian, the bakery manager manages a team of 17 individuals and there are issues in handling a huge team. One of the major issues that have been faced by Berian was to ensure that his entire team produces the right kind of products as to meet the demands. In order to generate huge productivity in the organization, Berian tried to provide break time to employees as this will help in enhancing the tasks performed by the employees (Keskes, 2014).  

Firstly, the leadership framework of Tesco sets both the competencies and skills along with the personal behavior and characteristics of the leaders. One of the main key programmes of Tesco is wherein building the leaders is encouraging reflection and self review. The competencies are maintained in Tesco in an effectual manner and this provides the employees to perform well in the tasks that are assigned to them (Laschinger et al., 2014).

Secondly, the style of leadership approach that is followed in Tesco is related to the capacity of the superiors who have the capacity to encourage and inspire the teams. The main motive of the superiors of Tesco is to provide motivation to the subordinates of the company. The main motive of Tesco is to increase productivity and sales by helping the employees to perform with high spirit and motivation (Saeed et al., 2014).

1. B) Characteristics of leadership styles

Definition

Autocratic style of leadership is known as authoritarian leadership wherein it is defined as the control of individual on the different decisions and there is little input from the different team members (Mulki,  Caemmerer & Heggde, 2015).

Example

Adolf Hitler is one such example of autocratic leadership wherein he did not take any kind of suggestions from subordinates and his judgment was the final in all the decisions.

Definition 

Democratic is defined as the style of leadership wherein it is participative in nature wherein all the members are included in process of decision making.

Example

Jeff Bros is one such example who follows the democratic leadership wherein he takes the opinion of the subordinates while he is taking any kind of major decisions.

Definition 

Laissez-faire is defined as the leadership style wherein the superiors delegate their tasks among the group members and ask them to perform their tasks in an effective manner. However, it has been seen that there is less productivity in such kind of leadership.

Importance of leadership

Example

Warren Buffett is one such example who follows Laissez-faire approach wherein he invests into different industries after canvassing the industries in an effectual manner

Two characteristics of Autocratic Leadership style

Firstly, the autocratic leaders direct their employees regarding what has to be performed in the tasks and it is appropriate in nature in different situations when there is an urgent issue and it has to be resolved immediately, the manager help the employees and direct them to perform tasks in such manner

Secondly, autocratic leadership style is characterized by ‘I tell’ philosophy wherein there is an attitude of direction from the superiors to make the employees understand how to perform the tasks in an effectual manner

Two characteristics of Democratic Leadership style

Firstly, the democratic approach of leadership is wherein it is ‘I share’ approach wherein the superiors includes participative leadership in the organization (Renko et al., 2015)

Secondly, democratic approach of leadership is wherein in the process of decision-making all the employees are included as this helps Tesco in generating huge productivity (Popli & Rizvi, 2015)

Two characteristics of Laissez-faire Leadership style

Firstly, Laissez-faire is ‘hands-off’ approach and the superior trust their teams as they can take appropriate actions with the boundaries that has been agreed previously

Secondly, there is ample delegation that helps the manager of Laissez-faire for taking different higher-level responsibilities (Yahaya & Ebrahim, 2016)

Therefore, it can be concluded that leadership is essential in organizations as this helps in increasing the morale of the employees along with productivity of the entire organization. The different importance of the leadership in Tesco has been discussed and it has been seen that the different approaches of leadership can be followed in different situations wherein it is apt in nature. The different leadership styles has been discussed that has been provided in the case study and it helped in analyzing that there are different characteristics of democratic, autocratic and Laissez-faire style of leadership in organizations.

Therefore, it can be recommended that Tesco needs to follow the approach of leadership that will help them in increasing their revenues and productivity in the organizations in an effectual manner. This kind of leadership style can help the company in gaining competitive advantage in the entire competitive market as well.

Task 2

Leading Change in Organizations

Introduction

The essay helps in analyzing the connection between the leadership and the organizational culture of Tesco. The usage of different kind of leadership styles that is used in Tesco will be discussed and the effect of such leadership on the culture of organization. The different causes of resistance to change in Tesco will be discussed, as this will help in reducing such changes. Leadership has huge impact on the culture of the organization as both work hand in hand for enhancing and controlling the performance of the organization. It is seen that the nature and kind of leadership style can foster and have huge impact on the performance of the organization.

Two Importance of Leadership at Tesco

Relationship between Leadership and Organizational culture

Both leadership and organizational culture work hand in hand as this will help in controlling, building and enhancing the performance of the entire organization. It has been seen that when both of them work together, the leadership can play an effective role in the changing of the culture of the organization. The different kind of leadership styles that is followed in organizations can have huge impact on the culture of organization and this can positively influence the growth of the company (Strom, Sears & Kelly, 2014).

There are different theories wherein it is commented by different authors that both culture of the organization and leadership can help in evolving the performance of the organizations. Furthermore, it is seen that leadership is the vital part of the organizational culture and these are the essential factors required to increase and enhance the performance of the organizations in an effectual manner. The different traits and skills of leadership is useful in promoting healthy culture of the organizations (Van Dierendonck et al., 2014).

Ways on how leadership is used in Tesco to develop Organizational Culture

There are different ways through which the leadership is used in Tesco in order to develop the culture of the organization. From the case study, it has been identified that there are different persons who preferred different kind of leadership approaches. The most effective leaders in the respective organization follow the style of leadership that is appropriate in different kind of situations.

There are different examples in the case study of Tesco that will help in understanding the importance and ways through which leadership helps in developing organizational culture.

Firstly, Martin uses the autocratic leadership approach when there are tasks that have to be performed in a quick frame. Martin dictates the employees in order to make them understand that which tasks is important in nature. Furthermore, in regards with Stephen followed democratic leadership approach and this helped him in solving such difficult situations in an effectual manner. With the help of the different styles of leadership, it has created huge impact on the organizational culture of Tesco.

It can be seen that leadership is essential in influencing the culture of the organization, however the leaders of Tesco needs to align with model and culture as desired. This will help the company in achieving the different objectives in an effective manner. It has been that in the example of Stephen understands and connects with the different employees as this will help the entire company to gain competitive advantage (John, 2017).

Definition of Autocratic Leadership style

Secondly, the managers of the respective organization Tesco needs to understand the consequences of using the wrong style of leadership in the organization. For example- Berian cannot use the Laissez –faire approach with the new employee in the bakery as the new employee may not be aware about the different techniques that are followed in Tesco (Caillier, 2015).

Therefore, from these two points, it can be analyzed and concluded that the different style of leadership has to be analyzed in such a manner that it will help the organization in attaining the different kind of objectives in an effectual manner. With the help of the examples provided in the case study of Tesco, it can be seen that all the kind of leadership styles is essential in nature, as this will help in solving the different matters effectively.

Resistance to change

It is defined as action that is taken by different kind of individuals in the organization when they perceive that the change that is occurring in nature is a threat to them. The threat that will be occurring is not required to be large in nature in order to cause the resistance.

Causes of resistance to change

There can be different causes of resistance to change in organizations that can be related to loss of status or security of job. The other reasons for resistance to change are politics in organization and pressure from the peers. However, there are different techniques through which the resistance to change can be reduced or minimized wherein the employees in the organization needs to identify the requirements for the change and communicate the change in an effectual manner (Çelik, Dedeoglu & Inanir, 2015).

Four Resistances to Change in Tesco

Main causes of change in Tesco

In the mid of 1990s, Tesco was mid size retail market in The United Kingdom. Over the few years, Tesco had applied different strategies in an effective manner and it is one of the biggest retail stores in the world. The change that was done by Tesco was strategic kind of change and it helped the overall company in gaining competitive advantage. The main reasons for changes are as follows:

Firstly, in order to create value for the customers was one of the changes that were initiated by Tesco in order to retain both new and existing customers. This had resulted in implementation of the self-checkout and the company wanted to make the experience of shopping more exciting for their customers (Chege, Wachira & Mwenda, 2015).

Example of Autocratic Leadership style

Secondly, the success of the respective company was due to different factors wherein the first one is the growing customer base. The self-checkout has able to ease the congestion on different checkouts. The company can use the self-checkout system especially for those customers who has purchased from their stores only a few times (Deichmann & Stam, 2015).

Thirdly, in the advancement of technological phase, it is essential for different organizations to enhance the technologies in an effective manner, as this will help them in becoming successful. Tesco implemented the self-checkout system, as this will help them in improving the operational efficiency.

Fourthly, Tesco implemented the self-checkout system, as this will help them in gaining competitive advantage against the other competitors in the market. In order to lead to differentiation technique, it is essential for Tesco to distinguish itself from the competitors in the market (Kang, Solomon & Choi, 2015).

However, this affected the morale of the employees at Tesco, as there were different reasons that are listed as follows:

Firstly, the employees felt that due to such technological advancements, they had the fear of losing their job. From such perspective, such kind of changes is harmful for their position in the company (Boies, Fiset & Gill, 2015)

Secondly, lack of competence is other reason wherein the employees resist change and there is lack of development of sense of control over the work environment. The change in skills and competencies caused issues in the organization (Goetsch & Davis, 2014).

Lastly, the lack of communication strategy is other reason wherein the employees’ response can range to fear of losing their job as well (Anderson & Sun, 2017).

Ways to reduce resistance to change

Firstly, proper communication is required in order to make the employees understand the requirement of change in the organization

Secondly, the employees has to be involved in the program of change in the organization as this will help the employees to feel good and motivated in the organization

Thirdly, negotiate with the employees in an effectual manner, as this will help the employees to understand the stress management in an effective manner (Anderson, Poto?nik & Zhou, 2014)

Lastly, provide the employees with appropriate resources as this will help in increasing the self-esteem of the employees

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that leadership has helped the organization in order to improve the culture of the organization. The different reasons for resistant to change has been identified and this helped in understanding the issues that has been faced by employees in the organization. The different reasons for the resistance to change has been identified and the ways to overcome such situation has been analyzed as well.

Definition of Democratic Leadership style

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