Organisation's Scoping of the Leadership Challenge - Case Study Example

Leadership Critically Reflective Essay--A Case Study In focus: sustainable fashion Introduction Every organization that has ever engaged itself actively in the fashion industry, a major concern for engagement has been in relation to the offering of luxury in all the stages. In this context, sustainable form of leadership is required to be able to ensure that the fashion industry becomes sustainable amidst the challenges that are eminent in the competitive world of today. As such, it has been common for the fashion industry companies to embrace ethical business model. The achievement of this goal requires that responsible leadership be practiced by the firm and in the right manner. Therefore, to be able to understand the challenge that faces responsible leadership in Burberry as the organisation of study within the fashion industry, the definition adopted by Mark and Pless shall be adopted in the modeling of the feasible solutions that can be practiced to remedy the leadership challenge. Responsible leadership is defined as: “A value-based and through ethical principles driven relationship between leaders and stakeholders who are connected through a shared sense of meaning and purpose through which they raise one another to higher levels of motivation and commitment for achieving sustainable value creation and social change.”(Pless & Mark, 2007.p.478) Considering the definition above, the realisation of the organisational performance greatly should be based on the achievement of the goals of corporate social responsibility. Responsible leadership is thus, concerned with the manner in which responsible leadership can be applied in the solution of the failures and challenges to ethical corporate leadership (Pless & Maak, 2011). In this assignment, the organisation under consideration is Burberry, which is a top British company that specializes in luxury brand dresses. It has been able to make the recommendable growth prospects that it has based on the adoption of an appropriate strategy in its leadership criteria. Just as in any other organisation, it is these strategies that have helped define the scope and sustainability directions that the company has taken for the long term. Considering the ever changing economic environment in which firms operate, the achievement of corporate success to Burberry will be much dependent on its configuration of the available resources and the competences, so as to fulfill the expectations of the shareholders. Further analysis of the growth prospects of the company and its ability to maintain leadership in the fashion design of dresses shall form the basis of the understanding and evaluation of the appropriate sustainable approaches that will benefit the company. Subsequently, the evaluation of the leadership responsibility shall consider the fact that sustainability is a fundamental constituent of the brief at the design stage of the dress. This is so as dresses can be designed to be put on for longer time periods or those that can be disassembled easily to allow for the recycling and re-use at a later stage (Freeman, 2004.p.201-208). Subsequently, this study will look into the organisation’s scoping of the leadership challenge taking into consideration the predominant leadership styles being practiced by the organisation and the stakeholder management in relation to the containment of the responsible leadership and ethical challenge. An assessment of the situation created by this challenge shall also be provided together with the conclusion for the case and the feasible recommendations for adoption by the company in the future. Scope and Analysis of the challenge The essence of strategic analysis is that it would enable the firm to assess its long-term objectives in a manner that would ensure their success and profitability (Henry, 2011.p.145-149). The absence of appropriate ethical and corporate responsibility techniques in the organisation are directly related to the attainment of responsible leadership in issues such as equal opportunity, recruitment and selection, diversity, employment regulations, management of talent and the management of performance in the fashion industry especially the fashion shows that are periodically conducted (Graham, 2005). In the recent times, businesses have had to grapple global economic downturns especially that of 2008/2009, Burberry being one of them, despite having had a strong financial base in the past decade. As a result, Burberry has had to consequently deal with the intensive pressure of maintaining its relevance in the fashion market for luxury brand dresses. With such market conditions, sales are likely to decline hence, affecting the revenues of the firm. Other than these, its strategic strategies are not in line with its growth objectives hence, in most cases faced with inappropriate production and marketing decisions that have hindered the growth of their sales and brand product preference in the market, lately. Besides, the company has fierce competition from rival companies and without a well-structured sustainable strategy, it would not be able to fully enhance on its productivity. As a solution, a study of the firm’s strategic position will offer insight into the feasibility of the policies to be used in enhancing productivity (Conger, 1999.p.145-158). Considering the global leadership crisis, it is considered that the attainment of strategic goals heavily depends on the development and mastery of personal and interpersonal leadership effectiveness so as to support personal career development of the employees and also enhance the organisational performance of the company. Subsequently, this will contribute meaningfully to the fashion industry through the examination of personal and specialized leadership identities and compressions of organisational controlling. Ethical consideration of the responsible leadership in the organisation also requires that, as a market leader in the luxury industry for the production of dresses, Burberry should be able to set standards that are to be followed by the other organisations in the market. Such a market leadership should be in the form of attaining production excellence, engaging in additional technological innovation and the assembly of appropriate dress designs while attending to the fashion shows that are organized by various companies (Kapferer & Bastien, 2012.p.212-219). However, the attainment of these production strategies will ultimately lead to the raising of its public attention hence, the stakeholders will be much eager to for higher and sustainable growth that matches to their market expectations. Therefore, from the perspective of being a responsible leader, the company should be able to attain simplicity and standardisation in the promotion of change in the organisation’s way of production and perception of production techniques (Graham, 2001.p.107-115). In considering the ethics and responsible leadership in the organisation, it can be noted that, as a requirement for sustainability, emphasis should be laid on the engagement of policy makers adequately in the provision of economic and regulatory frameworks in the fashion industry that it operates in. Ethically, the engagement of responsible leadership should be able to responsibly and proactively enhance the relations between the organisation and the company (Mclaurin & Amri, 2008.p.15-20). With this, issues of clarity and ambiguity in the operations of the company become inconsequential especially when the issues of the fashion industry become extremely larger than the unfavourable to the enhancement of sustainability. Supposing that the company becomes more concerned with the enhancement of productivity and growth, the use of PESTLE and SWOT models in its analysis be able to greatly enhance the identification of growth areas that can be exploited to enhance productivity and provide ways for detecting and handling threats from its internal and external environment (Burberry Heritage, 2013). With the constantly changing fashion industry in the UK, it is normal to make an assumption on the available design talents in the market as well as the appetite of the public in relation to the fashion products, the determination of the growth niche will be able to present the company with the likely models of sustainability that it requires to maintain (Maak & Pless, 2006.p.99-115). Ethically, the lack of responsible leadership in the organisation can greatly impact on the behaviour of its employees and the stakeholders given that various dynamic groups of persons will be competing for the same collection of benefits derived from the industry. A lack of corporate social responsibility; thus, becomes quite significant considering that it is related to ethical leadership. Ethical leadership is a key pillar in responsible leadership in that it would define the significant opportunities that govern the relationship between stakeholders, management and the employees in the same organisational setting (Brown et al., 2005.p.117-134). However, unethical behaviour in the organisation among the leaders if fostered by their actions may result in the promulgation of an unethical behaviour in the organisation as a normal norm of doing business. The end results of such would be detrimental to the organisation considering that it would lose customers for its products to the competitors. The normal association of ethical leadership to transformative growth models has been the definitive concept for the organisation. However, in case of unethical transactions or dealings, the first investigation point should be on the leaders as they are the ones tasked with the maintenance of the ethical image of the company (Gilbert & Ivancevich, 2000.p.93-105). Burberry’s critical evaluation of the available options Given the socio-cultural analysis of the company, it can be noted that Burberry can take advantage of the current population of the UK estimated at about 63.2275 million people in the year 2013 (Publish date, population UK), most of whom are of a youthful age. Burberry, as a traditional brand in the UK, has sought to make its British style become popular among the youths, who are considered largely involved in the fashion market. Therefore, impacting on its existent culture, it would be easier for the company’s managers to blend different variation in different cultures for the designs that they make so as to have an appeal across different cultures. Responsible leadership requires that an organisation should be able to incorporate several cultures in its design of goods to enable an attraction of a wide variety of consumers from within the market’s geographical coverage (Henry, 2011). Having taken into consideration the nature and form of responsible leadership being practiced by the organisation the most rational practice would be for the company’s management to tactically and strategically deal with these challenges in an amicable manner. For instance, it would be able to identify with its production objectives when it realises that a culture fit for the company is maintained that would ensure that it jointly deals with the unification of the diverse minds of its employees and stakeholders for the benefit of the company (Cheverton, 2004). In this, it would be appropriate for the management, as a result of practicing responsible leadership to be able to be able to combine the efforts of various employees and use the same to propel and reinforce the company’s growth objectives across the fashion industry. Subsequently, the same should be carried out in a manner that enhances the attainment of the goals of corporate social responsibility given that doing this, the quality of the organisational life and organisational performance will be improved in the industry (Bass, 2000.p.18-40). Additionally, to ensure that the company largely understands the nature of the market that its operates in, the leadership shall be required to encourage at all times innovative creations of its employees who through the same shall be extending the competitive advantage for the company on its diversity in the design of fashionable dresses. Assessment of the potential consequences Supposing that the organisation’s leadership may be weakened in one way or another, appropriate measures should be ensured so that the company is not caught unaware of the reactions it receives from the market based on the leadership choices that its management makes. These choices are either positive or negative and often times, the requirement is that the leaders be able to make rational choices that will positively impact on the productivity of the organisation (Yukl, 2002). On the other hand, should the company opt for the consideration of the ethical forms of leadership; its employees would then be required to indicate satisfaction with the current employment conditions. The attainment of the ethical leadership would be able to direct the management on the best options and ways of treating the customers in a safe, healthy and cordial working condition would enhance the development of healthy relationships with the management (Ahlstrom & Bruton, 2010). Conclusion and recommendations In concluding this study, there are three leadership styles that are predominantly noted as being practiced or required to be practiced by the organisation. First, is ethical leadership which requires that the company focuses on its positive role modeling function and continue to set an ethical standard in the work place to be adhered to by all employees and stakeholders (Brown & Treviño, 2006.p.596-616). Second, transformative leadership that focuses on the attainment of the objectives of the company with the addition of value to responsible leadership as the third leadership style discussed. With responsible leadership, the study notes that the micro-economic perspectives and macroeconomic perspectives such as the contribution to social change and sustainable futures are entailed (Hook, 2012). Therefore, responsible leadership when studied from a broader perspective indicates that the consideration by the stakeholders of Burberry mainly focuses on the building and cultivation of good ethical relations with all market players, with the main aim being the attainment of higher productivity (Slack & Walton, 2008.p.331-336). Finally, the study in seeking to accomplish the above leadership value recommends that SMART organisation actions should be taken. In this, the sales prospects, employee satisfaction goals and maintenance of high productivity should be conducted in specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and time-bound manner. This way, the company, would be sure of appropriate feedback from all stakeholders in the fashion industry regarding their leadership styles and the effect of the same on their design activities (Stone et al., 2004.p.349-361). References List AHLSTROM, D., & BRUTON, G. D. (2010). International management: strategy and culture in the emerging world. Australia, South-Western Cengage Learning. BASS, B. M. (2000). The Future of Leadership in Learning Organizations. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 7(3), 18–40. doi:10.1177/107179190000700302 BROWN, M. E., &TREVIÑO, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 595–616. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.004 BROWN, M. E., TREVIÑO, L. K., & HARRISON, D. A. (2005). 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