Diageo Company Limited Leadership and Employee Empowerment and Participation - Example

Diageo Company Limited Leadership and Employee Empowerment and Participation Name: Diageo Company Limited Leadership and Employee Empowerment and Participation Course: Tutor: Institution: Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Employee Engagement Practices in Diageo 3 2.1 Decentralization 4 2.2 Employee Training Programs 4 2.3 Employee Voice 6 3.0 How the Leadership style impacts on employee participation and engagement 7 3.1 Leadership Style 7 3.2 Merits of its Application 9 3.3 Challenges for its Application 11 4.0 Reflection 12 5.0 Conclusion 13 References 15 1.0 Introduction The Diageo Public Limited Company is a multinational alcohol beverages manufacturing Company headquartered in London UK. In this case, the organization has established global market recognition for reputable brands such as Vodka, John Walker and Bailers brands among others (“Diageo”, 2015). One of the strategies through which the organization has developed a sustained its market competitiveness is through increased employee participation, empowerment and engagement. In this case, the report review analyses the core practices through which the Diageo Company Limited has promoted employee empowerment and participation in its operations. Further, the analysis offers a critical review of how the applied leadership model, theory, and style impacts on creating efficiency or failures of the adopted employee empowerment and engagement strategies. Finally, the report offers an individual reflection. In this case, it relates the suitability of the empowerment and leadership strategies on my personality as a potential employee for Diageo Company limited. 2.0 Employee Engagement Practices in Diageo The process of including employee in an organisational management process is a critical component in creating HR workforce quality and long term sustainability. In this case, Ketchum and Trist (2012, p.37) argued that through employee empowerment an participation in organisational practices, there is increased productivity as well as reduced overall employee turnover in the market. This report analysis section evaluates the various practices that the Diageo Company applies to increase its overall employees empowerment and inclusion in the decision making process for strategic organisational practices. 2.1 Decentralization Theoretically, decentralization is described as the process through which an organisational management delegates the decision making responsibilities down the management chain. In this case, under a decentralized operational system, the overall executive management is charged with creating a vision while the middle and low level employees participate directly in the decision making process (Hempel, Zhang and Han, 2012, p.478). Based on this theoretical understanding, an analysis of the Diageo Limited Company illustrates that the organization is highly decentralized. However, the decentralization process is not based on the regional offices in the market. Instead, the organization decentralization is based on its respective brands. As such, the different brands in the market are administered as individual and separate entities. As such, each of the brands acts as a separate profit generation entities in the market. In this case, the strategic role of formulating and making decisions is reserved and channelled to the different departmental staff. In this case, through the adoption of this approach, the organization ensures that the middle and low level managers in the respective brand units have a share of decision and strategies formulation. In this regard, this report analysis establishes that through the adoption of a strategic decentralization process, the venture has ensured employee participation (“Diageo”, 2015). In this context, the participation and engagement is based on the individual employees’ specialty and technical skills as per the brand condition and market conditions and requirements. 2.2 Employee Training Programs The second approach through which the Diageo Company limited enhances employee participation and engagement in its decision and strategy formulation process is through employee training. The process of training employees is a reserve of the HR function, In this case, the HR function is mandated with the role of evaluating existing employees skills gaps, devising a rational training program, as well as executing the training process. Fundamentally, the identification of employee skill gaps is based on two orientations, namely the present market conditions, as well as expected future market condition changes in the long run period. Moreover, the training process is especially two fold, either internal or external (Tung, Baird and Schoch, 2011, p.1293). On one hand, an internal training systems are those developed within an organization, and often relies on the execution of internal organisational resources. On the other hand, an external training program includes the contracting of external third party to train organisational employees. Based on this understanding, an evaluation of the Diageo Limited Company illustrates that the organization uses the internal training programs. This is evidenced by the presence of the Diageo academy institute. The Diageo institute academy is a training Institute for the organisational employees. In particular, the academy trains the organsiational managers prior to their transfers on the global markets as well as prior to their promotions respectively. In this case, the training institute offers relevant market and professional skills required by organisational managers. In this case, as Cho (2013, p.162) noted, the global market is experiencing changing market trends. In this case, the global market technology status, market customer buying behaviors, and the competition landscape are changing on a regular basis. As such, in order to ensure that the employees are equipped with the relevant skills to formulae decisions is through regularly training them. To this end, the Diageo academy seeks to offer such required and crucial skills to the employees. In this case, the employees and managers are often trained on changing market landscape to inform their strategic decision making. This report analysis argues that through employee training, the management ensures that it empowers them with the right skills and qualifications to formulate decisions. As such, this ensures that such employees have increased sound inputs and contributions in organisational operations (Thompson, 2010). Moreover, it enhances the formulation of quality decisions among the trained employees. Thus, this leads to the conclusion that through its employee training academy, Diageo has increased overall employee empowerment and participation in decision making respectively. 2.3 Employee Voice The third approach through which Diageo Limited Company has enhanced employee participation and empowerment is through creating an employee voice HR approach. The employee voice approach is a strategic HR management approach through which the respective HR managers empower employees to communicate and raise issues in the decision making process. The provision of employee voice is based on the pluralist HR management theory. The pluralist theory holds that employees have differing interests in the market, which are divers and unique from one another. (Burris, 2012, p.857). Therefore, there are the likelihood and high possibilities for conflicts and disagreements between the employees and their respective managers and supervisors. In this case, the model is hedge on the understanding that the employee interest is often not a representative of the overall organsiational goals, objectives and interest respectively. Therefore, in order to ensure a reduction in the conflicts, organizations use the employee voice approach. As Grant (2013, p.1709) argued, there are different employee voice practices such as the use of suggestion boxes, HR representatives in every department to ensure employee welfare and rights respect, among others. An evaluation of the Diageo Limited Company illustrates that the organization sues the employee voice approach through its partners for growth strategy. In this case, under the partners for growth initiative, the organsiational managers are expected to treat the employees as their development and growth partners. Therefore, rather than offering directives and commands, the mangers are expected to create room for employee voice and opinions. Through this strategic approach, the organization ensures that the employees’ opinions are recognized and incorporated in the overall decision making process (Diageo-careers, 2015). In this context, the overall organisational operational systems encourage employee voice. Based on this review, this report concludes that the organization has facilitated employee engagement and empowerment by creating room and opportunities for airing their overall views and opinions on strategic and operational organisational issues. 3.0 How the Leadership style impacts on employee participation and engagement This report section develops a critical analysis on how the leadership style and practice applied by the Diageo Limited Company impacts on the discussed employee empowerment and engagement strategies on the venture. The section conducts a critical review of the applied leadership style, based on its merits and demerits on employee participation and inclusion. 3.1 Leadership Style A leadership style is described as the approach through which an organization is led and managed. In this case, a leader is a person who coordinates the organsiational employees with an aim of attaining a strategic set goal in the market. As Kippenberger (2002, p.132) stated, there are different leadership styles and practices in an organization. In this case, the adoption of a specific leadership style is based on the nature culture and operations in an organization, as well as the external market environment. Among the common leadership styles applied include autocratic, consultative, democratic, and leissez fairer among others respectively. An evaluation of the Diageo Company leadership system illustrates that the venture applies the democratic leadership approach. Under a democratic leadership approach, include the opinions of the employees on strategic issues. However, the manger reserves the right to formulate the final decisions. Therefore, although the employees have the liberty to contribute in the decision making process, their contribution is limited to offering opinions on presented issues. However, it is expected that the respective managers evaluate the alternative opinion, against the existing organisational situations and constraints to formulate overall required decisions (Smith, 2013). The leadership style at Diageo could be illustrated through an evaluation of its CEO Tim Salt. In this case, a review of his leadership illustrates that he had been accustomed to a competitive culture. In this case, prior to joining Diageo, he applied the autocratic leadership approach where the employees served and followed his directives. However, as Smith (2013) noted, he confessed to experiencing a different leadership and management culture at Diageo Company limited. In this case, the CEO argued that Diageo is a calm organsiational system, where there is cooperation and consultations in the decision making process. However, he noted that he still remains the overall decision maker, as well as the other managers. Therefore, this is an illustration that although the mangers consult with low level employees, as well as peers, they reserve the ultimate decision making responsibilities. Therefore, the above analysis of Diageo Company Limited decision making process illustrates that the organization applies the democratic leadership style. Based on this analysis, the report evaluates how the application of this leadership approach has enhanced the success of the HR employee empowerment and employee participation systems in the market. Moreover, it evaluates how the adoption of this leadership style might negative impact on the employee engagement and participation strategies as well as the alternative strategies through which the organization can change its leadership style to support employee participation and engagement systems respectively. 3.2 Merits of its Application On one hand, this report establishes that the application of the democratic leadership system has supported the overall organsiational HR employee engagement and participation strategies in the market. On one hand, one of the key features of a democratic leadership approach is the inclusion of employee opinions. However, as already noted, the managers make the final strategic decisions. In this regard, the application of the leadership style by Diageo Company supports the partners for growth strategy. The strategy is a support system for the employee voice practice, which seeks to increase employee opinions hearing and inclusion in the decision making process. In this context, the organization creates a platform through which the leaders are advised and motivated to include employees in the decision making process. In this case, leadership approach has facilitated the development of an engagement culture. In this case, the overall principles of operation in the organization are hedged on consultations and inclusion of all the stakeholders (Diageo-careers, 2015). This culture has extended to the inclusion of the customers in the market. In this case, the overall operations in the market include the use of a pull demand strategy, where the organisational employees and staff seek out the customers’ opinions through regular market research studies in the market. As such, based on their reviews, the staff members develop opinions that inform on the overall sales and marketing decision making process. As such, although the managers rely on the developed market reviews and sales staff contributions and opinions, they have the ultimate right and mandate to formulate the overall market strategic decision on behalf of the organization (Alfes, Truss, Soane, Rees and Gatenby, 2010). Therefore, the above analysis indicates that the application of this leadership approach supports the organsiational employee voice employee empowerment strategy. The second merit for the application is the application of the democratic leadership approach is its supports for the decentralization strategy. As argued in the report analysis, the organization has decentralized its decision making process, entrusting the different decentralized brand division employees and managers with the decision making responsibilities (Thompson, 2010). In this case, ach of the respective brands is represented by the head managers in the executive management positions. In this case, the overall organisational leadership style allows for the consultations of the respective departmental brands prior to formulating the strategic executive decisions in the market. Hence, based on this analysis, this report concludes that the application of the democratic leadership style allows for the actualization of the decentralization process in the market. 3.3 Challenges for its Application Nevertheless, although the applied leadership style at Diageo Company limited supports its employee empowerment and participation program, it has its limitation. On one hand, the democratic leadership approach is based on consulting the employees, and not actually involving them in the final decision making process. In this case, although the employees could offer viable alternatives in the decision making process, the manager is under no obligation to execute and include the alternatives in the final decision. As such, through the adoption of this leadership style, the employees lack the skills and expertise in decision making (Alfes, Truss, Soane, Rees and Gatenby, 2010). Consequently, the leadership approach does not align with the organsiational training and employee development program. In this case, at the Diageo academy, the organization trains and equips the employees with the required theoretical skills and expertise to formulate decisions. In this case, the adoption of this system is based on the assumption that the organisational leadership system would instead present relevant decision making opportunities to actualize the learnt employee theoretical skills in the practical decision making process in the venture (“Diageo”, 2015). However, this is not the scenario with democratic leadership. Instead of empowering the employees with opportunities for developing strategic decisions, it limits their role to offering alternative solutions only. Based on this analysis the report establishes that the applied leadership approach obstructs the attainment of the employee training program merits. Instead, the report argues that an alternative support leadership approach would be the adoption of a laissez fairer leadership approach. In this case, the organization should allow for the adoption and use of teams to support its training program intentions. In this case, the application of the teams will ensure that the venture applies teams that formulate strategic decisions. Thus, the teams would be entrusted in the evaluation of alternatives as well as the formulation of the final decisions respectively (Thompson, 2010). This would provide the employees with the opportunity to formulate strategic decisions as well as an opportunity to practice and actualize their theoretical skills learnt in the Diageo academy. 4.0 Reflection Based on the report analysis, this report section offers an individual reflection of how I fit in the applied strategies and leadership at Diageo Company limited. On one hand, as an individual I am a risk taker. In this case, I am innovative and strive to implement and try out new approaches and strategies. Therefore, as an employee, I prefer environments that are challenging and present me with challenging and innovation based opportunities. With regard to this understanding, I am inclined to befitting an organisational corporate culture that allows for a challenging work environment. However, an evaluation of the Diageo Company limited illustrates that the environment is not challenging enough. In this case, the employees are not directly involved in resolving the strategic organizational challenges, and are only involved in formulating alternatives. Therefore, I would not fit into the organsiational culture. On my part, I would prefer on operating in the recommended leadership style for the venture. Through such a leadership approach, I would be directly involved in the decision making process, providing me with an opportunity to innovate and develop strategically innovative strategies for the venture. However, evaluating the provided HR employee empowerment strategies indicates a match with my skills and personality. This is especially through the employee voice strategy. As an individual, I believe in the freedom of expression. In this case, although I appreciate the role and rights of a leadership in any organization, I also believe in having my opinions count. As such, I am more of a liberal employee who raises concerns on issues and events that flow against the norm and acceptable rules. Therefore, based on this trait, I am of the opinion that I would fit into the organisational HR culture. In this case the report evidenced that the venture encourages employee to air and voice their concerns in the market with no victimization. Therefore, this will allow me to exercise my freedom and raise issues n all practices that are against the policies and expected norms in the venture. In addition, my apparent trait on a continuous improvement strategy aligns me with the organisational policies. In this case, I have over the years adopted an individual culture of aspiring to develop and improve my skills on a regular basis. In this case, the organization has the Diageo academy. The academy is an opportunity through which employees improve and develop their skills and leadership expertise on a regular basis. Therefore, through this opportunity, I would acquire an opportunity through which to improve my skills regularly in the long run period. As such, this will provide me with the opportunity to grow and rise through my career into the future. 5.0 Conclusion In summary, this report develops a critical analysis of the Diageo Company limited employee participation and engagement program as well as how the applied leadership style supports or limited the strategies. Finally, the report offers a reflection of how I fit in into the applied systems. On one hand, the analysis establishes that the organization applies decentralization, employee voice, and training respectively. Further it establishes that the organsiational applies the democratic leadership style that supports the organisational decentralization and employee voice strategies. However, the style limits the application of the training approach strategy. Finally, an individual reflection illustrates that the organisational strategies fit in with my social freedom advocacy and continuous improvement traits. However, it limits my risk taking culture. Thus, the report summary recommends that the organization should adopt the leissez Faire leadership style in the future. References Alfes, K., Truss, C., Soane, E., Rees, C. and Gatenby, M. 2010, Creating an engaged workforce - Research Reports - CIPD. [Online] Cipd.co.uk. Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/general/_creating_engaged_workforce.htm [Accessed 12 Jul. 2015]. Burris, E. R. 2012, ‘The risks and rewards of speaking up: Managerial responses to employee voice’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 851-875. Cho, K. 2013, ‘Environmental changes in the global textile & fashion market & their implications for Korean firms’, Journal of the Korean Society of Costume, vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 151-165. Diageo, (2015) History. [Online] Available at: [Accessed: 31 October 2015]. Diageo-careers, 2015, Training & Development. [online] Available at: http://www.diageo-careers.com/en-row/WorkingAtDiageo/Pages/TrainingDevelopment.aspx [Accessed 1 Sep. 2015]. Grant, A. M. 2013, ‘Rocking the boat but keeping it steady: The role of emotion regulation in employee voice’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 56, no. 6, pp. 1703-1723. Hempel, P. S., Zhang, Z. X., & Han, Y. 2012, ‘Team empowerment and the organizational context decentralization and the contrasting effects of formalization’, Journal of Management, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 475-501. Ketchum, L. D., & Trist, E. L. 2012, All teams are not created equal: How employee empowerment really works. Newbury Park: Sage Publications. Kippenberger, T. 2002, Leadership Styles. Chichester: Capstone Publishers Smith, F., 2013, He had to change’: How Diageo CEO Tim Salt became human and why his business is super-engaged. [Online] Available at: < http://www.brw.com.au/p/leadership/human_business_super_change_engaged_tPqchqU7OukO4QKVrLc09H> [Accessed: 31 October 2015]. Thompson, J. 2010, Johnnie Walker popularity helps Diageo to toast profits. [online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/johnnie-walker-popularity-helps-diageo-to-toast-profits-2063217.html [Accessed 12 Jul. 2015]. Tung, A., Baird, K., & Schoch, H. P. 2011, ‘Factors influencing the effectiveness of performance measurement systems’, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 31, no. 12, pp. 1287-1310. Read More