Being a Leader - Coursework Example

INTRODUCTION Being a leader , whether it be in the roomm, in the glee club, or in a multi-million pound organization is never a walk in the park. In fact, being a leader is not for everyone. There are some people who are really born with the traits and guts befitting a good leader. Being a leader is not easy because it comes with a lot of problems, endless working hours and stress. But perhaps, more than these, it is the huge responsibility that comes with being a leader that makes it a very difficult job. As Uncle Ben puts it in the movie Spider-man, "With great power lies great responsibility". The purpose of this paper is to discuss the skills and traits necessary to become a good leader. This paper also seeks to present the ethical and cultural issues present within an organization. The case study chosen is Asda, a UK-based company which with groceries and food items. Asda, which has been in the business for several decades now, is one of the best and leading groceries company in UK. 1.1 IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND VALUE ON LEADERSHIP One of the primary responsibilities of an effective leader is to create and maintain the organizational characteristics that reward and encourage collective effort from all the members of the company. One of the most important organizational characteristics that should be given a special attention of any company is organizational culture. But what is organizational culture? What is organizational value? What impact does organizational culture and values have on leadership? To start off, organizational culture as defined by Lines(2009) is the shared beliefs, practices, assumptions, and behaviors of all the members of the ogranization that shape the working environment and relationships within the company. It is the code that affects the attitudes, decision making management style. This definition by Lines (2009) is also consistent with the one given by Hannagan (2005), who defined organizational culture as a way of doing things in an organization. One example of an organizational culture is eating lunch with all the employees together, or giving a surprise birthday party to every employee on his/her birthday. In the context of Asda, saving money and keeping cost low is part of their culture. Saving money everyday is not a marketing slogan, it is the single minded focus of everyone at Asda, something that all employees and staff believe in (2011). It is also important to differentiate organizational values from organizational culture. Unlike organizational culture, organizational values are usually written down as part of organization mission or vision statement. They are usually proclaimed in a written form for the customers to see and for the employees to always remember. Hannagan (2005) defines it as statements of intent , which are sometimes not explicitly written, such as serving the community or conserving the environment. Specifically in Asda, there is value for people and products. Asda also believe in making a difference to local communities and that is why a charitable institution called Asda Foundation was set up to support the local community (Asda 2011). The Asda Foundation offers financial support to a wide range of programs such as feeding programs, repair of childrens classrooms, breast cancer information campaign, and many other projects that benefit the local community. The Asda Foundation reflects the companys gratitude to the local people who have patronized their products. More about the companys culture can be understood and grasped by looking or wading through Asda history,symbol, legend, artifact and so on. It is very essential for leader to familiarize themselves with all organizational culture and values. In fact, many of the problems confronting leaders can be traced to their inability to analyze and evaluate organizational culture. Therefore, it is of paramount importance for every leader like the President and CEO of Asda, Andy Clarke, the Chairman of Asda Executive, Andy Bond and President and CEO of Walmart International, Doug McMillon to consistently understand Asdas organizational culture before formulating or implementing new strategies. 1.2 IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEGAL, REGULATORY AND ETHICAL REQUIREMENT ON LEADERSHIP DEMAND As days passes by, more and more companies become rightly developed. Values and beliefs among the employees, staffs, and leaders are being acknowledged and recognized. In addition, company rules, regulations and ethics are also formed. According to Armstrong(2006), ethics refers to the guiding principles the organization follows in conducting its business operations and relating to its stakeholders. The ethics held by a company serves as a guide to help it determine what is morally right from what is wrong. The stakeholders could be employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers and the society. In Asda for instance, a code of ethics is strictly observed by all staff and employees, including the executive bosses. There is a part on Asdas website stating that, “we care passionately about the people who make our product and to ensure you can shop with a clear conscience, we have published a document setting out our belief and what we are doing to deliver on our commitment”(Asda 2011). This statement will help individual, that is, employees, customers, and shareholders to know what is expected of them. Leaders in Asda too would also be able to know what is expected of them. Therefore, all managers especially leaders in Asda should try to understand all these legal, regulatory and ethical requirement before making demands. 1.3 CURRENT AND EMERGING SOCIAL CONCERNS AND EXPECTATION IMPACTING ON LEADERSHIP Leaders, apart from having to constantly think about the welfare of its company and its employees, are also faced with different social concerns and expectations. This fact applies to the leaders in Asda as well. In fact, Asda is currently facing some social concerns that require special attention. These emerging social concerns and expectations impacting on leaders in Asda can be seen from Asda press release as of May 2011. The following are itemized. First, family spending power down 7.1 percent as prices increase twice as fast as income. Second, Asda embarks on next phase of multi-million food quality investment programme. Third, Asda launches the Antechs Roadshow and finally, Asda embarks on overseas franchising model for George (Asda 2011). All these current concerns need to be addressed promptly. There is a proverbial sayings “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”. Leaders in Asda are the ones who wear the crown. This means that they are in a position of power and hence, are in the most appropriate situation to find solutions to these concerns. These are not problems but they are refered to as social concern. To find solution to all these social concerns, leaders in Asda have published some way out and this is posted on their website (Asda 2011). 2.1 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP Management and leadership are essential principles in managerial concept. According to Mintzberg et al (2010), management is all about thinking on how to do things right. Management, in laymans term, is putting everyones efforts and actions in synchrony in order to achieve a certain goal. On the other hand, leadership is about how to do the right things. Hence, leadership is putting into action the principles of management. It is an act of management itself. Leadership deals with being a leader and having a follower. Management can also be an act of managing men, money and materials in an efficient and effective ways. This goes without saying that good management and leadership should go hand in hand. When a leader leads, he has to think. When a manager manages, he has to lead. Take for instance in Asda, each stores has a manager. It is the primary duty of the manager to carry out this acronym “POSCORB”, where P stands for planning, O stands for organizing, S stands for staffing, CO stands for coordinating, R stands for reporting and finally B stands for budgeting. If anything goes wrong in a store, the first person whom the staff go to is the manager or the designated leader. In a real life situation, there are some people that have assumed the post of a manager and yet at the same time, they are leaders, such as David Cameron of UK, Barrack Obama of USA, Olusegun Obansanjo of Nigeria and many more. All the aforementioned people have to manage all their nations wealth and at the same time lead their respective people. These people are called great leaders. Indeed, what makes a great leader is the ability to manage and ability to lead. In Asda, people like Andy Clarke, Andy Bond and Doug McMillon are all great leaders and at the same time, efficient and effective managers. Therefore, leadership is a subset of management. Management is the umbrella in which leadership resides. However, both are very important traits to possess in order to effectively run an organization or company. 2.2 LEADERSHIP STYLES Leadership is not just confined to a single approach. Leadership style, or the manner in which a leader leads a group, takes several forms. According to Armstrong (2010), leadership styles can be categorized into four. The first is charismatic/non-charismatic. Charismatic is a type of leader who relies on the strength of their personality and their inspirational quality while the non-charismatic type relies on their know how. For example, it is possible for Andy Clarke to rely mainly on his own qualities but this could lead to inefficiency in Asda. No one is the epitome of wisdom. By consulting and seeking others for ideas, Asda or any organization for that matter can move forward. The second is autocratic/democratic. Autocratic leaders impose their decisions on others while democratic leaders encourage people to participate in decisions making. Autocratic leaders do not give freedom to their subordinates; they monopolize all the decisions. The rules they made are absolute. Democratic leaders, on the other hand, take all the staffs ideas and concerns into play. Each member has a voice and is recognized by the companys leaders. The management team in Asda is not autocratic. They try to involve others in making decisions and that is why they give out surveys to the public before making decisions. Hence, decision-making in Asda is democratic. The third is enabler/controller. An enabler type is someone who inspires people with their vision of the future and empower them to accomplish the groups goals. A controller, on the other hand manipulates people to obtain their compliance. In Asda, the top executive empower others through training. The last but not the list is transactional/transformational. Transactional leader trades money, job and security for compliance whereas transformational leaders motivate people to strive for higher level goals. REFERENCE Armstrong M(2006) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 10th Edition, Kogan Page Limited, London. Armstrong M(2010) How To Be An Even Better Manager, Seventh Edition, Kogan Page Limited, London. Asda (2011) Press Centre. Available online at http://www.your.asda.com/press-centre. Accessed on 05/06/11. CMI (2011) Situational Leadership. Available online at http://www.membersmd.managers.org.uk/user/controls/viewPDF.ash#?docID=1132769. Accessed on 05/06/11. Geddes and Grosset (2000) English Dictionary, New Edition, Geddes & Grosset, Scotland. Hannagan T (2005) Management:Concepts & Practices, Fourth Edition, Pearson Education, Essex. Lines D, Marcouse I and Martin B (2009) Business Studies, Sixth Edition, Hodder Education, Oxfordshire. Mintzberg H, Ahlstrand B and Lampel J (2010) Management:Its not what you think, Pearson Education Limited, Edinburgh. Owen J (2009) How To Lead, 2nd Edition, Pearson Education Limited, Edinburgh. Schein E.H (2004) Organizational Culture and Leadership, Third Edition, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Tracy B (2010) How the Best Leader Leads, Amacon, New York. 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