Michael Hill Stores Story - Assignment Example

Michael Hill Stores of Executive Summary Proper leadership has played the leading role in the success of Michael Hill’s jewelry business. The company has been able to overcome the challenges and setbacks within the business environment due to proper leadership and organizational culture. Michael Hill has grown internationally and become a leader in jewelry retailing within its regional markets. A transformational leadership style is applied within the company and it acts as a driving force to the achievement of company objectives and goals. Transformational leadership style has allowed the leadership of Michael Hill to understand and meet the diverse needs of employees. The motivation within the company is due to competitive compensation package that is provided to employees. The company has also been able to meet the various needs of the employees as postulated within Maslow’s theory of motivation. This has led to a highly motivated workforce. Political, social, cultural, economic and environmental forces are some of the factors which have defined and determined the company’s success within its various retail stores across the world. A culture of success and values for high performance characterizes the company, which can be attributed to the competitiveness of the company through its ability to meet the needs of its customers. Introduction Effective leadership is the most important determinant and driver of success within a company or organization (Simola, Barling & Turner, 2012). Through proper leadership and a positive organizational culture employees are motivated to achieve high performance. As a result, the company is able to meet its objectives of providing quality to its customers and hence becoming competitive and successful within the market (Sadeghi & Pihie, 2012). This paper gives a critical analysis and discussion of Michael Hills International with a view of determining the role of leadership, motivation and organizational culture in its success within the jewelry business. The paper also provides the internal and external forces which define the company’s success within the market through an environmental analysis. Section 1: The Organization Michael Hill is a jewelry chain which operates its retail business in Australia, Canada, the US and New Zealand. The company has more than 2000 employees across its 240 jewelry retail stores across the world. The headquarters of Michael Hill International are situated in the city of Brisbane, Australia. Michael Hill started the company in the year 1979 (Jewellery World, 2011). Since then the company has grown significantly. This is due to the dedication of the company’s leadership which has enabled it to overcome the inevitable challenges within its business environment. The success of the company is also attributed to the fact that it provides its customers with unique jewelry products and high quality formulae (First10, 2012). Furthermore, the company provides a variety of designs for its retail stores and a wide range of jewelry products, which makes it attractive to the customers. More significantly, there is the commitment of the company to branding and advertising its jewelry products and services (Jewellery World, 2011). Michael Hill International has a decentralized organizational structure in which the national subsidiaries are headed by the regional managers who define the nature of regional operations. Nonetheless, Michael Hill who is the chairman of the company, acts as the overall head or leader of the company (First10, 2012). The decentralized structure of the company demonstrates its organic nature. The organizational structure also makes the company be able to adapt to the different business environments and the forces within regional markets. This is in line with the decentralized functions such as marketing, branding and competitive strategies. The company is, however, guided by the common mission: to be the most recognized by people and focused jeweler in the whole world (Jewellery World, 2011). The objectives of the company include providing high quality jewelry to its customers with a view of attaining their loyalty. The company also aims at achieving a competitive advantage in the market and realizing high returns in revenue (First10, 2012). Section 2: Environmental Analysis The internal factors which have contributed to the success and positioning of the company in the market include leadership, employees, technology and communication, organizational culture and company image. It is argued that the internal environment plays a significant role in the success of any business because it defines the ability of the organization to effectively and efficiently meet its goals and objectives (First10, 2012). Within Michael Hill, the internal environment, especially the dedicated leadership and employees, plays a leading role in promoting the efficiency of operations, the image of the company and in attracting customers for the company’s jewelry brands (Jewellery World, 2011). Within the external environment, there are forces or factors which affect or define the operations of the company and its success within the market. The social cultural factor significantly determines the company’s business success and competitiveness. This is due to the internationalization of the company, which means that its operations within various cultures and societies have to comply with the societal values and beliefs (Jewellery World, 2011). Additionally, the political and legal factors, such as business policies on jewelry retailing, taxation and reporting of financial statements, are determinant of the company’s operations and success within its various subsidiaries and regional retail stores. The economic factor also influences the company’s business functions and policies such as advertising and pricing (First10, 2012). Section 3: Leadership Michael Hill exhibits a transformational leadership style or trait. This is due to the fact that the company leadership values the contribution of employees in the success of the company (Simola, Barling & Turner, 2012). As a result, the leaders involve employees in the decision making process. Transformational leadership trait allows leaders to understand the needs of the employees and meet them effectively and satisfactorily (Sadeghi & Pihie, 2012). Michael Hill, in particular, has demonstrated effectiveness in leadership which is said to be the major reason for the continual development, growth and success within the company. Hill postulates and exhibits skills and attributes of a transformational leader. This is disclosed by the fact that his values, as presented in his book “Toughen Up”, include proper working relationships and communication within a company as the most significant driver of success (Simola, Barling & Turner, 2012). Michael Hill’s leadership style and its effectiveness have motivated the leadership of the company’s regional subsidiaries to adopt a transformational approach which has led to positive impacts on the company. Through the transformational leadership approach, the employees within Michael Hill have been provided with a safe and motivating working environment. This is a result of the ability of the leadership and management of the company to understand the need of employees (Sadeghi & Pihie, 2012). Because of this, quality services and products have been provided to the company’s customers by the employees. It is apparent that working at Michael Hill is a rewarding and exciting experience. The friendly relationship between the leadership of the company and employees further reflects the reasons why the company is increasingly performing well within the jewelry market. Section 4: Motivation Motivation is argued to be an adjunct to leadership, which describes a group of approaches and strategies through which employees of an organization are encouraged to achieve high performance (Sengupta, 2011). Within Michael Hill, employees are motivated by the positive impacts of good and effective leadership. The motivation within the company can be analyzed and evaluated in line with Maslow’s theory of motivation. In accordance with Maslow, motivation is achieved through the provision of the needs of individuals which fall within various levels of the hierarchy of needs (Sengupta, 2011). The physiological needs fall within the first level. Within Michael Hill employees are provided with attractive and competitive compensation packages, which acts as a major motivating factor because it allows them to effectively meet their physiological needs. The remuneration strategy within Michael Hill is inclusive of bonuses for highly performing employees and managers. This promotes further their capacity to achieve more performance. Maslow’s theory of motivation describes security or safety needs within the second level of the hierarchy of needs which must be met for employees to be motivated (Sengupta, 2011). Michael Hill provides its employees with a safe working environment. As a result, the employees are guaranteed with their safety. Additionally, the company’s retail stores are installed with physical security and technological security measures, such as CCTVs, which are used to detect any security threats. In this regard, the employees are motivated to work hard and hence leading to improved individual and organizational performance. More importantly, the employees are provided with job security through contractual arrangements with the company (Jewellery World, 2011). Social needs, which fall on the third level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, are said to be important in the motivation of employees (Sengupta, 2011). The flexible and communicative leadership within Michael Hill is one of the major motivational factors. Good relationships within the company have caused employees to meet their social needs at the work place which has caused them to enjoy their work. A collaborative work environment characterizes Michael Hill International. This involves employees who work in teams to provide effective and quality retail services and products to customers. The company leadership believes that a proper social relationship within the work place is the most important element of motivational performance and as a result, the company endeavors to meet the social needs of all employees. Section 5: Culture A culture of business success is what characterizes Michael Hill. This is enjoyed and celebrated by all members of the company including leaders, managers and employees at all levels of the organizational structure (First10, 2012). Organizational culture plays the most significant role in driving the direction of success and performance within a business environment which is taken by a company (Shahzad, Luqman & Shabbir, 2012). Within Michael Hill, team work and a collaborative work environment acts as the major driver of the success culture of the company. It is apparent that the employees of the company are content with their working environment because the organizational culture makes Michael Hill a great place where many people would desire to work. The pursuit for business success is highly valued and regarded within Michael Hill (First10, 2012). As a result, a positive culture is evident within the company which is attributed to the recorded positive performance of employees and the company in general. Employees at Michael Hill are fun, sales-focused and dynamic (Shahzad, Luqman & Shabbir, 2012). These attributes define the company’s culture and values and have allowed employees to achieve their accomplishments effectively. In return, the company has been able to meet its objectives and goals efficiently through a positive organizational culture and values, which are inclined for the need for success. More specifically, the company’s values and culture are motivated by its mission. Conclusion In the light of the above analysis and discussion, it is evident that proper leadership has played the leading role in the success of Michael Hill’s jewelry business. Through proper leadership, the company has been able to overcome the inevitable challenges and setbacks within the business environment. As a result, the company has grown internationally and become a leader in jewelry retailing within its regional markets. A transformational leadership style, which is characteristic of Michael Hill leadership, is an effective approach which acts as a driving force to the achievement of company objectives and goals. This is due to the fact that transformational leaders promote good relationships within company through their communicative nature. It is through this style that the leadership of Michael Hill has been able to understand and meet the needs of employees. Employees within the company are motivated by attractive and competitive compensation packages. Additionally, the ability of the company to meet the various needs of the employees as postulated within Maslow’s theory of motivation is attributed to the highly motivated workforce. Nonetheless, there are internal and external factors and forces that determine the performance of the company within its retail business in jewelry. The values and organizational culture within the company is that of success, hence the reason why the company has been meeting its goals and objectives. References First10. (2012). Michael Hill. First10, 1. Retrieved from Jewellery World. (2011). Michael Hill Knighted In NZ. Jewellery World, 1 (1), 10. Retrieved from < http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=120&sid=1067a390-1402-4208-a637-f236764579dc%40sessionmgr111&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=59917488> Sadeghi, A., & Pihie, Z. (2012). Transformational Leadership and Its Predictive Effects on Leadership Effectiveness. International Journal of Business & Social Science, 3(7), 186-197. Sengupta, S. (2011). Growth in Human Motivation: Beyond Maslow. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 47(1), 102-116. Shahzad, F., Luqman, R. & Shabbir, L. (2012). Impact of Organizational Culture on Organizational Performance: An Overview. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(9), 975-985. Simola, S., Barling, J. & Turner, N. (2012). Transformational Leadership and Leaders Mode of Care Reasoning. Journal of Business Ethics, 108(2), 229-237 Read More