Leading in a Changing World Is to Generate Blogs about Leadership in Fashion Industry - Literature review Example

Leading in a Changing World: Leadership in a Fashion Industry

Table of Contents

Theme 1: Leadership and Ethics3

Theme 2: The challenge of managing diverse teams8

Theme 3: Most effective leadership and Management styles and approaches14

Theme 4: Leadership and Change20

Theme 5: Vision of Leadership26

• Theme 1: Leadership and Ethics

Two principle areas of ethics

As per the opinion of McCleskey (2014), deontological and teleological are considered as the two principles of ethics. The focus of deontological ethics is on duty and it determines the extent to which an action is morally correct. However, the stress of this principle is to guide in making ethical decisions without thinking of the outcomes. Martin (2015) stated that the use of such a principle is beneficial in an organisation since it leads to practice of fair trade and transforms a corporation into an organic one. However, the limitation of such a principle is that corporate profits are avoided and emphasis is given more on transforming the organisation into an organic one.

On the other hand,McCleskey (2014) pointed out that teleological ethics gives greater emphasis on moral consciousness and the outcomes of using it to solve major ethical issues. Organisations following this principle are keen on determining the result of applying it instead of concentrating on the actions. Listed corporations have used this ethical principle for impressing their shareholders. Alshammari, Almutairi and Thuwaini (2015), argue that the benefit of using such a theory is to help save the lives of individuals residing in the community. However, the limitation is that the principle focuses more on results rather than the actions required to achieve the positive outcomes.

Model of ethical leadership

In order to define the complex concept of ethical leadership, it is important to analyse the 4-V model comprising of values, voice, vision and virtue. Alshammari, Almutairi and Thuwaini (2015), stated that ethical leadership requires a clear understanding of the core values; whereas,vision demonstrates the ability of the leader to create a plan of action for achieving a morally correct outcome. However, there is a need to voice the created vision to followers in order to reach the desired outcome. Lastly, virtue guides ethical leadership by fostering the welfare of every individual.

Alshammari, Almutairi and Thuwaini (2015), pointed out that multinational corporations are following the virtue aspect of 4-V model along with the deontological principle of ethical leadership. This is evident from their focus on results instead of actions. According to McCleskey (2014),deontological approach of ethical leadership improves the process of actions by abiding the ethical guidelines. Alshammari, Almutairi and Thuwaini (2015), stated that this procedure encourages the employees and thereby improves their job performance.

Organisational examples from fashion industry

As per the opinion of Siegle (2012), in the global fashion industry, H&M plans of controlling the price unmorally in order to reduce the expenditure on sourcing cotton as a raw material. Apart from this action, it forces the factories to fulfil the quotas. This action predicts that the outcome of the entire plan will be profitable but the sourcing process, which reflects actions taken by the fashion company will not be ethical. All the fashion companies sources their inputs from developing nations such as South America and China. This case highlights a negative ethical behaviour on the part of fashion companies such as H&M. As per the opinion of Tran (2016), the effect of such a negative practice is not feasible, because it affects the job performance of workers. The negative image of the fashion corporation on the employees de-motivates them to deliver better performance.

On the contrary, Gap Inc. can be cited as a good example of Ethical Corporation reflecting morally correct behaviour. Bundhun (2015) stated that the focus of the organisation is to source their raw materials from organic farmers, which clearly reflects fair-trading. As per the views of McCleskey (2014), organisations abiding by the deontological principle emphasised on ethical actions instead of anticipating about the outcomes. This helps them to create a better image among its employees. The actions taken by the company has also raised its revenue by 20% since the year, 2011 (Gap Inc., 2014).

Conclusion and Recommendation

The discussion on ethical principles highlights that deontological approach which although focuses only on the processes, also enhances the outcomes. The discussions clearly reveal that ethical leadership is important for achieving a better image and for encouraging the internal stakeholders to deliver efficient outcomes. After analysing the cases of companies such as H&M and Gap Inc. belonging to the fashion industry, it is clearly evident that corporations have to consider the values generated by their organisational operations and improve their activities for deriving ethical outcomes. The attempts made by corporations to hide their immoral acts have the chances of being leaked to the public due tothe presence of faster distribution channels of internet, like the social networking sites of Facebook and Twitter.

After deriving knowledge on ethical leadership and issues faced by companies, my suggestion to leaders will be to start training its workers for raising their awareness regarding the importance of ethics. This will further create a better image among the employees and contribute to enhanced business performance. The knowledge of ethical behaviour can be utilised by corporations to focus only on practising ethical deeds through implementation of measures like fair-trading because it positively affects the outcomes.

Reference list

Alshammari, A., Almutairi, N.N. and Thuwaini, S.F., 2015. Ethical Leadership: The Effect on Employees. International Journal of Business and Management, 10(3), pp.108-116.

Bundhun, R., 2015. Likes of Gap and H&M doing more to ensure ethical sourcing from India.[Online]. Available at: <http://www.thenational.ae/business/economy/likes-of-gap-and-hm-doing-more-to-ensure-ethical-sourcing-from-india> [Accessed 14 June 2016].

Gap Inc., 2014. Annual Report.[Online]. Available at: <http://www.gapinc.com/content/attachments/gapinc/GPS%202014%20Annual%20Report.pdf>[Accessed 14 June 2016].

Martin, R., 2015. A Review of the Literature of the Followership since 2008.SAGE Open, 5(4), pp. 1-9.

McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), pp.117-130.

Siegle, L., 2012. Is H&M the new home of ethical fashion?.[Online]. Available at: <.https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/apr/07/hennes-mauritz-h-and-m> [Accessed 14 June 2016].

Tran, A., 2016. Implementing Change to Decrease the Re-admission Rate for Clients of a Care Transition Program.[Online]. Available at: <http://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1330&context=capstone> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

• Theme 2: The challenge of managing diverse teams

Advantages and the challenges of diverse teams

The advantages and challenges of diverse teams are evident from Tuckman’s‘Team Development Model’. As per the opinion of Sheridan, Chong and Foster (2011), there are four stages of team development namely ‘forming’, ‘storming’, ‘norming’ and ‘performing’. In the first step of forming, the anticipation from the team that will be created is determined. Furthermore,Martin(2015) pointed out that for building the team, similarities between the individual employee’s goals are identified and efforts are made on strengthening the bondamongdiverse organisational members. In the next step of storming, the leader actually interacts with the diverse group members to determine their specific skills and the difference in their ideas are identified.

As per the opinion of Sheridan, Chong and Foster (2011), in ‘norming’ step, the agreement of diverse members is taken for solving the issues and key decisions are made through negotiation. In the last step, the leaders take the opinion of diverse group members who work collaboratively and are highly dependent on each other. Therefore, from the discussion, it is evident that the model helps in team building which in turn, enhances communication among the diverse organisational members and coaches every worker on responsibility sharing. McCleskey (2014) stated that all these in turn help a transformational leader to improve organisational performance through enhancement in coordination among diverse group of members.

Team building by incorporating all the individuals originating from various backgrounds is challenging for the leaders because the process is time consuming. However, Sheridan, Chong and Foster (2011), pointed out the fact that Tuckman’s Model helps a leader to manage a team consisting of diverse individuals and makes it a feasible implementation.

There are certain challenges faced by leaders in building up a diverse team, one of which is constant conflicts among the members. Moreover, the leader cannot indulge in social exclusion because the same will lead to discontentment among the minority and female workers. In times of group building, the individuals coming from diverse backgrounds find it difficult to connect with others.

In an attempt to deal with the challenges of managing diverse teams; Martin (2015), stated that a leader can follow John Adair’s leadership theory. This action-centred theory is based on three aspects namely task, team and individual requirements. Since a task is hard to finish by a single leader, therefore a team is needed. However, for fulfilling the targets, coordination among team members is required through fulfilment of individual requirements. Sheridan, Chong and Foster (2011), opined that by successfully following Tuckman’s model and Adair’s leadership theory, team building becomes easy by incorporating diverse individuals.

According to Hwang (2013), the advantage of diverse teams is that it acts as a source of creative ideas for the organisations. Moreover, the adjustment power of employees grows, which in turn contributes to the enhanced corporate performance.

Ability to manage a diverse team is the most important skill- Discussion

The fashion industry requires the capability of administering a diverse group since it leads to favourable outcomes. The reason behind this is that two factors are significant in the fashion industry and these relate to care and customer service. Crane (2012), stated that since customers of fashion industry in the US belong to varied cultural backgrounds; therefore, the formulation of a diverse team is important. The presence of team diversity helps in dealing with language problems encountered by the organisations in their process of selling. Fashion industries usually pair up their customer service representatives with all those clients that speak their native language. This assists them in effective communication. For instance, Sustainable Business Report (2015) and Advise America (2016), highlights that at Nike, Inc., which is popular in the fashion industry of USA; an inclusive culture is maintained for encouraging diverse team. For encouraging diversitygroup work, the business head of Nike, Inc. created Family Care unit, which allows the women employees to contribute in the performance of the organisation (Sustainable Business Report, 2015). The operations of Nike, Inc. in building diverse teams reveal the fact that, Tuckman’s Team Development Model is strongly followed by its leader.

Recommendation

In an attempt to increase the productivity of an organisation, the leader needs to encourage workplace diversity. This is possible through team building based on categorisation. For instance, a diverse work team will consist of certain members belonging to the same culture and similar backgrounds. The categorisation in terms of age and disability will also help the leader to formulate a group consisting of varied types of workers. However, for implementing the same, an inclusion management strategy is required. By providing training sessions to the existing employees in an attempt to increase their adjustment level and for helping them to understand the importance of diverse groups, a leader is able toreapprofitable outcomes.

Conclusion

The discussion on team diversity reveals the fact that it improves the communication in a group and assists in responsibility sharing. The specialisation of each individual can well be used for filling the gaps of other members in the group. The adjustment power of employees working in the fashion industry is enhanced by formulation of diverse teams. In the fashion industry, there are various customers belonging to different cultural backgrounds. In such a scenario, the presence of diverse employees simplifies the act because customer service employee having the same cultural characteristic as the client will be selected for solving the query of the individual. In this perspective, Tuckman’s Model is an important strategy that needs to be followed.

The limitation of building such diverse team is that there is a requirement of a transformational leader. A transformational leader is capable of implementing Adair’s leadership theory.

Reference List

Advise America, 2016. Nike Management Style.[Online]. Available at: http://www.adviseamerica.com/nike-management-style/[Accessed 14 June 2016].

Crane, D., 2012. Fashion and its social agendas: Class, gender, and identity in clothing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Hwang, J.Y., 2013. Fashion designers' decision-making process: The influence of cultural values and personal experience in the creative design process. [Online]. Available at: <http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4645&context=etd> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Martin, R., 2015. A Review of the Literature of the Followership since 2008.SAGE Open, 5(4), pp. 1-9.

McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), pp.117-130.

Sheridan, P.K., Chong, A. and Foster, J.A., 2011. Design Educator Education-Creating Effective Judging and Teaching Teams in Engineering Design Contests and Courses.[Online]. Available at: <http://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/PCEEA/article/view/3608/3622> [Accessed June 15 2016].

Sustainable Business Report, 2015.Letter from our CEO.[Online]. Available at: <https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiDld2C3afNAhUIvY8KHfzeA8sQFggbMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fnikeinc%2Fassets%2F56158%2FNIKE_FY14-15_CEO_letter.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHUul8Rco1gcA1HvJoF_wjIJWI2hA&bvm=bv.124272578,d.c2I> [Accessed 14 June 2016].

• Theme 3: Most effective leadership and Management styles and approaches

Appropriate personal style adopted by managers for attaining success

According to McCleskey (2014), in contemporary organisations, leadership style has shifted from control management and transformed into participative type. In prior times, corporations adopted autocratic leadership where the followers were hardly allowed to participate in the decision-making of the organisation. Although this kind of a leadership style is unable to motivate the employees, it has advantages. Alshammari, Almutairi and Thuwaini (2015), pointed out that autocratic leaders are able to closely supervise the weaknesses of workers, which a participative leader is not capable.

On the contrary,Hwang (2013) stated that followers are demanding participative leadership style because it allows the creative workers to thrive in the organisation. This fact not only benefits the creative employees because their skills are recognised but the organisation for which it is working also improves from financial perspectives. Although this kind of leadership boosts the morale of followers Tang (2012), pointed out that the occurrence of conflict is common because every organisational member tries to implement its decisions and influence the leader. From this perspective, participative leadership style is distinct from an autocratic one.

In order to analyse the impact of practising autocratic leadership style, it is significant to take up the case of French Fashion Industry. Crane (2012) argued that all the fashion companies of this country namely Coco Channel, Hermes and Charvet Place Vendome are practising autocratic leadership style and the same has helped them to improve their global market share in the fashion industry. The leaders of these fashion companies have assisted them to enhance their financial performance and achieve the top position in France. However, the employee working under Alain and Gerard Wertheimer of Coco Channel, are not satisfied because they are not allowed to place their opinion.

On the contrary, in the US, Nike, Inc. practises a partial participatory leadership that resembles a kind of situational leadership model. As stated in Sustainable Business Report (2015), Mark Parker leads the organisation and the followers in the company are content with the prevailing culture. The reason behind the satisfaction of employees is the presence of a calm environment since the leader allows the workers to operate on their own. As published in the magazine of Advise America (2016), the case of Nike, Inc. reveals better leadership skills because employees are respected and ableto participate in decision-making.

The examples on Coco Chanel and Nike, Inc. clearly reveal that managers need to adopt participative leadership style in order to achieve success (Advise America, 2016).

Most effective approach to managing work of subordinates

The examples of fashion industry and the different leadership styles adopted by various countries like the autocratic management technique in France fashion industry, clearly reveals that it varies according to the situation. In a given circumstance;Crane (2012), stated that autocratic leadership style is appropriate but there are times when participative management structure is required. Therefore,Adair (2009), stated that it is best to implement Situational Leadership Model, where leaders identify the priorities of the organisation, diagnose the acceptability of followers and decide on the management style. However, there are four kinds of situational leadership, which are directing, coaching, supporting and delegating.

Figure 1: Situational Leadership Model

(Source: Author’s creation)

Figure 1 demonstrates that the discussed kinds of situational leadership styles depend on the capability and enthusiasm of workers. According to Adair (2009), in order to manage the work of subordinates, the situational leaders need to determine the skills and willingness among organisational members. In fashion companies like Nike, Inc.,situational leadership is suitable becauseHwang (2013) pointed out thatit allows the employees to suggest creative ideas for new designs when the deadline for production is close. In other times Adair (2009), stated that coaching practices of leaders helps followers to design as per the requirements of the orders made by the customers.

Conclusion and Recommendation

I believe that situational leadership is the most appropriate style because circumstances vary and the personal features of employees are different. My agreement with the debate is because of the fact that, there are times when both the ability level of employees and willingness of them to undertake responsibility in the fashion industry are high. In such a situation, the process of delegating tasks to the followers has the chance of effectively dealing with the circumstance. When both the variables are low in fashion based companies, direction of the leader is required which demands an autocratic leadership style.

The best leaders that fit my idea of situational leadership are Stefan Larsson, the CEO of Ralph Lauren Corporation and Mark Parker, the business head of Nike, Inc. I would like to be led by these leaders as they practise their management style based on the ability of employees.

Managers need to use their leadership skills in analysing the current priorities of fashion industryand analyse the skills of employees. Based on such a circumstance, it needs to decide the most suitable leadership style. This will assist fashion-based organisations to achieve success.

Reference List

Adair, J., 2009. The inspirational leader: How to motivate, encourage and achieve success. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Advise America, 2016. Nike Management Style.[Online]. Available at: http://www.adviseamerica.com/nike-management-style/[Accessed 14 June 2016].

Alshammari, A., Almutairi, N.N. and Thuwaini, S.F., 2015. Ethical Leadership: The Effect on Employees. International Journal of Business and Management, 10(3), pp.108-116.

Crane, D., 2012. Fashion and its social agendas: Class, gender, and identity in clothing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Hwang, J.Y., 2013. Fashion designers' decision-making process: The influence of cultural values and personal experience in the creative design process. [Online]. Available at: <http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4645&context=etd> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), pp.117-130.

Sustainable Business Report, 2015.Letter from our CEO.[Online]. Available at: <https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiDld2C3afNAhUIvY8KHfzeA8sQFggbMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fnikeinc%2Fassets%2F56158%2FNIKE_FY14-15_CEO_letter.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHUul8Rco1gcA1HvJoF_wjIJWI2hA&bvm=bv.124272578,d.c2I> [Accessed 14 June 2016].

Tang, S.F., 2012. Making artist neighborhoods: production of urban space and culture in Hong Kong and Taipei.[Online]. Available at: <https://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/184260/1/FullText.pdf> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

• Theme 4: Leadership and Change

Analysis of Mullins’ statement

Changes in management style are required for thriving in the marketplace. According to Hwang (2013), the tastes and preferences of customers are transforming in the fashion industry for which creative apparels are demanded. In such a scenario McCleskey (2014), pointed out that a transformational theory is required to be applied because in such a kind of management, the employees are able tosuggest their innovative ideas. Without the presence of transformational leadership theory applied to the global fashion industry, creative designs are hard to create. MoreoverTang (2012)pointed out that the hierarchical management style is not applicable in the international fashion industry because it complicates the communication system and is time consuming. For such a reason, flat management structure is required which is possible only through changes undertaken by the CEO of a company.

According to Blom (2015), employees resist changes in management because it is a common thinking that sufferance will assist transformation. Moreover, there are organisations that fail to clearlycommunicate the process changes that will assist transformation in management. Nonetheless, the resistance to transformrelies on employee personalities. There are certain individuals who find it difficult to deal with the situation because they are habituated to a certain kind of organisational practice. Furthermore, the workers are insecure of their job because of thefrequent changes in management. In such a circumstance, the forceful implementation of change management de-motivates the employees and increases the turnover rate. Therefore, the management can rarely conduct organisational changes.

The importance of change management is evident from the case of Ralph Lauren. The fashion based company, adopted the ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement) model for adopting transformation. As stated in Forbes (2014), the customers of Ralph Lauren Corporation were demanding unique fashionable apparels and the company became aware of the need. Crane (2012), argued that the desire of fashionable customers and the knowledge gained about the benefits of change management, forced the organisation to implement administrative transformations (Citizenship Report, 2014). Presently, Ralph Lauren has gained competitive advantage because of implementing change management.

Role of managers in overcoming resistance to change

For overcoming resistance to change in employees, managers encourage them to participate in implementing changes. Apart from such a measure, the managers guarantee them against any kind of loss from the perspective of earnings. In case of a wide range of changes, the managers train the workers in order to motivate them. Usually Tran (2016) stated that Kotter’s 8-step change theory is implemented by managers for overcoming the resistance to change. As per the views of Mulwa (2015), the steps of the theory such as communicating the employees regarding the importance of change and informing them about the new vision of the fashion company are common. These were observed in Nike, Inc.’s change management plan, where the manager created a changed culture by motivating the employees through empowerment (Brand ID LLC., 2016). In an attempt to transform the employees into creative individuals, the administrators mitigated complacency. Moreover, for filling up the vacancies in higher posts, the managers choose from the existing workforce. The outcome of undertaking change management has helped Nike, Inc. to improve and offer their customers’ innovative fashion items (Sustainable Business Report, 2015).

Conclusion and Recommendation

The benefitsof change management are derivation of competitive advantage and process improvement. This is evident from the cases of Ralph Lauren Corporation and Nike, Inc. belonging to the fashion industry. However, in order to manage change in global fashion industry, managers need to communicate their new strategy to subordinates, avoid sending variegated signals, provide job security to them and ultimately allow them to participate in implementing change.

Since the ADKAR model is not clear about the directions that guide employees in adapting to change, therefore, Kotter’s 8-step model is the most appropriate one that administrators of fashion industry needs toimplement. The model clearly defines the steps to the administration, following which change management can successfully be implemented.

Reference List

Blom, T., 2015. Fusing organizational change and leadership into a practical roadmap for South African organizations.[Online]. Available at: <http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/20151/thesis_blom_t.pdf?sequence=1> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Brand ID LLC., 2016. 5 Things You Need to Learn from Nike's Huge Management Changes. [Online]. Available at: <http://www.brandid.com/5%20Things%20to%20Learn%20from%20Nike%20Management> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Citizenship Report, 2014.Ralph Lauren. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjDko_c3afNAhVJqI8KHdx_CoUQFggbMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fphx.corporate-ir.net%2FExternal.File%3Fitem%3DUGFyZW50SUQ9MjM1MjU3fENoaWxkSUQ9LTF8VHlwZT0z%26t%3D1&usg=AFQjCNGlc2MOli3mVbCxObG744LFYk5GPg&bvm=bv.124272578,d.c2I> [Accessed 14 June 2016].

Crane, D., 2012. Fashion and its social agendas: Class, gender, and identity in clothing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Forbes, 2014.Ralph Lauren -- New Mood -- New Management -- New Drive.[Online]. Available at: <http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2014/03/05/ralph-lauren-new-mood-new-management-new-drive/#15da7cd0307d> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Hwang, J.Y., 2013. Fashion designers' decision-making process: The influence of cultural values and personal experience in the creative design process. [Online]. Available at: <http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4645&context=etd> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), pp.117-130.

Mulwa, F., 2015. Strategic change management: a case study of United Nations office at Nairobi, Kenya. [Online]. Available at: <http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/94925/Mulwa_Strategic%20Change%20Management.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Sustainable Business Report, 2015.Letter from our CEO.[Online]. Available at: <https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiDld2C3afNAhUIvY8KHfzeA8sQFggbMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fnikeinc%2Fassets%2F56158%2FNIKE_FY14-15_CEO_letter.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHUul8Rco1gcA1HvJoF_wjIJWI2hA&bvm=bv.124272578,d.c2I> [Accessed 14 June 2016].

Tang, S.F., 2012. Making artist neighborhoods: production of urban space and culture in Hong Kong and Taipei.[Online]. Available at: <https://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/184260/1/FullText.pdf> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Tran, A., 2016. Implementing Change to Decrease the Re-admission Rate for Clients of a Care Transition Program.[Online]. Available at: <http://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1330&context=capstone> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

• Theme 5: Vision of Leadership

Most suitable type of leadership

The fashion industry requires creativity as the improvement in the same variable, leads to emergence of better designs. According to Crane(2012), customers all around the world are demanding fashionable apparels that enhance the social standard and meet all the goals of sustainability. Crane (2012) stated that for meeting the high-end needs of customers, a participative leadership style is required in the global fashion industry. However, there are certain other characteristic features, which need to be incorporated in participative style fordefining the vision of leadership correctly. As stated by Lee (2016),it means that the leader has to possess a charismatic personality, whichimmensely motivates the employees. However, with the constant changes in circumstances, fashion industries requires, the implementation of situational leadership model.

An inspirational leader

The most effective examples of situational leader in the fashion industry are Stefan Larsson of Ralph Lauren and Mark Parker of Nike, Inc. These leaders have inspired me to such an extent that I wish to become a situational leader in the future. However, the leadership styles of H&M have disappointed me, because it is entirely about delegating responsibilities and deriving feedbacks of workers (The H&M Way, 2015). According to my opinion, the situational leadership model has to be followed for dealing with the given circumstance. As per the opinion of Martin (2015), the success of undertaking such a leadership is possible only through situational analysis and implementation of change management based on it.

Feedback from your colleagues in creating awareness

My co-workers are of the opinion that charismatic and supportive leaders are the ones who are capable of motivating their followers. Apart from these features, the behaviour of leaders towards their subordinates forms the most significant part. These feedbacks from my co-workers have helped me to become more aware about the employee’s requirements for tackling change management.

According to Crane (2012), the tastes and preferences of customers in fashion industry change constantly for which leadership type has to be transformed. Employees should be delegated with responsibilities when the target of the project is a long-term one. However Martin (2015), pointed out that in case of short deadlines, supportive leaders are required. On the contrary, for the interns of fashion companies and for new employees, coaching is required in order to teach the various ways of working processes such as designing, sourcing and other such activities. Therefore, from the discussion; it is evident that different situations emerge in the fashion industry and as per the requirement; leadership style has to be changed.

As a leader, I have work on incorporating charismatic leadership in me because the same will help me to inspire my employees. Moreover Lee (2016), pointed out that a charismatic leader helps a fashion based organisation to become cohesive where employees have vivid purpose. Apart from these skills, I need to behave positively with my subordinates in order to encourage them to deliver better performance in the fashion industry.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The discussion on inspirational leaders hasdepicted the fact that the CEO of Ralph Lauren Corporation and Nike, Inc. are the best examples. The situational leadership style has allowed the leaders to incorporate change management successfully in their fashion based companies. Moreover, their efforts have helped them to contribute to the fashion industry of the US.

The experience of Ralph Lauren and Nike, Inc.’s workers after operating under their leaders has taught me the importance of situational leadership theory. However, I need to incorporate charismatic leadership qualities in me as I progress through the MBA course. In order to develop the same, I need to give attention to each of the subordinates working under me. This will act as a motivating force and reduce the turnover rates in the fashion industry. Moreover, I need to take risks by trusting my followers, since it will boost their morale. Since behaviour of leaders leaves an impact on their subordinates, therefore, I need to change it for deriving better outcomes.

Reference list

Crane, D., 2012. Fashion and its social agendas: Class, gender, and identity in clothing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lee, A., 2016. Insecurity Threat and its Implications for Leadership Preference.[Online]. Available at: <http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2589&context=theses> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Martin, R., 2015. A Review of the Literature of the Followership since 2008.SAGE Open, 5(4), pp. 1-9.

The H&M Way, 2015.Living by our values and guidelines every day. [Online]. Available at: <https://about.hm.com/content/dam/hm/about/documents/en/hm-way/HM%20Way_en.pdf>[Accessed 15 June 2016].