Assessment 3 Leadership Paper

However, leadership development is a contemporary trend, which requires leaders to regularly adapt towards changing organisational situations and hence, functioning appropriately by ensuring self development along with that of the organisation (Western, 2019).

Difference Between Leadership and Management

Leadership is often misinterpreted as an interchangeable term with management, which refers to planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling all the activities, resources and strategies of the company. However, there is a significant difference between both these terms that are explained through several pointers below:

• In terms of management, the aim of individuals is to manage each and every resource for a smooth working of the company and easy achievement of organisation's objectives. However, leadership focuses on developing the motivational level of the human resources for achieving the same task rather than emphasising on management.
• A rather machine-like approach is carried out by management in context of getting the job done. However, in relation to leadership, it functions on the humanitarian basis of performing business, which is highly effective if the performance of the business is to be enhanced (Shamir and Eilam-Shamir, 2018).

Hence, both the aspects of business is important to be there within the organisation as somehow, both are dependent on one another to facilitate the working and functioning. However, an organisation and its senior personnels must realise the difference between leadership and management and apply both these functions separately within their working. Get more Assignment Examples for you assignment Help.

ORGANISATIONAL OVERVIEW

Woolworths is one of the finest supermarket chains within the Australia, which deals in retailing of groceries and other effective items such as magazines, DVDs, household products and so forth. Located in New South Wales, Australia, this company has been in operations fr almost a century and has a prominent customer market within the country. Moreover, the products and services of the company are very much desirable and preferred by the customers.

In terms of certain activities, there are several operations that are carried out by the company in relation to run their businesses efficiently. Some of these activities are explained as follows:

• Supply Chain Management: One of the most prominent activities within the company is related to acquisition of raw material and delivery of finished products. This activity is highly essential for the organisation, as it has to acquire fresh groceries daily from the suppliers. Moreover, since the supermarket also works towards delivering the company's products to customers, the supply chain also works effectively towards achieving the same.
• Administration: The company has to maintain records of several aspects, such as customers, suppliers, employees, daily operations, sales, customer services and so forth. Hence, this activity assists the company in an effective records and information management within the organisation.
• Retail Management: A major activity which the firm is required to accomplish is the managing its retail operations. This include storing, segregating and displaying the items, along with management of equipments and human resources which supports the organisation in context of carrying out these activities in an effective manner.
• Marketing: One of the most essential activity which is implemented by the organisation. The firm is appropriately marketing its products and services through use of diverse methods of improvement, which are required to familiarise the offerings of the firm with the market. Furthermore, this also includes choosing and implementing methods of advertisements and sales promotions, which further enhances the prospects of marketing within the business (Glatthorn. and et. al., 2018).

LEADERSHIP PRACTICES

Leadership Styles

Leadership styles are the approaches which the leaders appropriately and effectively follow when it comes to providing perform their duties and activities within the organisation. Moreover, each and every leadership approaches serve as an appropriate guide to leaders as to how they could approach different functions that are required to be adopted by them.

In perspective of Woolworths Supermarket, there are several leadership styles which leaders within the company adopt and implement within their practices. Some of the prominent approaches are explained below:

• Participative Leadership:
  
  This type of leadership style refers the one where employee participation is highly valued and invited within the organisation's decisions. In addition to this, the strategies and business plans within the company are formulated by keeping the personal interests of employees into consideration. Within Woolworths, this is one of the most used leadership styles which could be reflected by several leadership programmes which the company formulates for its employees. For example, in 2013,; the firm developed several programmes for the female staff of the organisation, which would have enabled them in development of the competence which is required to lead several departments themselves (Woolworths Limited: Annual Report, 2013). Moreover, to enhance the participation of female employees Personal Leadership programme has been developed by the company to ensure effectiveness within the same.

• Situational Leadership Style:
  
  Another effective leadership style which is being followed by the organisation is situational leadership style, which reflects that the leaders would be choosing the leadership approach depending on the situation of the company. In case of Woolworths, the firm works effectively towards enhancing employee experience. Moreover, since each and every employee is different, the firm has been adopting diverse leadership, which is according to the situation so that the employee experience could flourish (Taylor, 2018).

Leadership Challenges

There are several challenges which are currently being faced by the company, despite adopting effective leadership styles. This could be reflected by the fact that Woolworths has undergone restructuring recently, However, the change management has been very much ineffective due to several redundancies and Fair Work Commission (Woolworths management restructure faces challenge, 2019). The challenge which this reflects within the same is that the company is not adopting appropriate leadership while leading the firm with towards the change. This also embarks an effective leadership of both the leadership styles mentioned above, due to the fact that the Fair Work Commission has shown concerns over the laying off of employees due to this restructuring. It is a clear indicator that democratic viewpoints are not considered by the company. In addition to this, the situation demands the company to adopt transformational leadership style for better change management, which is not being followed by the firm, as the employees are very much unhappy with the whole restructuring idea. Hence, the biggest challenge in here for the company is that leadership is being chosen by the organisation with the view of coercion, i.e., imposing of decisions on the employees, rather than influencing the workforce about what decision the company is taking. This has caused a severe effect on the corporate strategies and harmony within the organisation as the expectation level of employees has always been prominently high from the company (Wildavsky, 2018).

Leadership Development Activities

However, there are certain effective leadership development activities within the organisation. For instance, as mentioned above, there are certain schemes and leadership programmes that are being effectively developed which would assist them in determining their capabilities and competence in relation to highlighting the scope of improvement towards development of their performance as a leader. In addition to this, social development is a prime agenda of the organisation, which is focusing on providing education, training and performance appraisals to the organisations, which are very much effective in building up the desire skills, experience and competence in employees of the organisation. 

CRITICAL EVALUATION OF STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

It is a highly crucial activity which is required to be performed in order to evaluate as to what extent does the organisation's leadership practices satisfy the strategies adopted by the company. Moreover, evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of these practices would also help in identifying the areas of improvement within the overall organisation, which would be assisting the firm in development of these practices in ways which facilitates leadership within the company and effective contribution to its strategies. The prime strategy of the organisation is related to being customer focused for a long period of time which would help the company in regaining their trust and enhancing the customer market (Woolworths announces new strategies to win over grocery shoppers, 2019). Moreover, innovation and value creation are very prominent parts of this strategy. Are you looking for homework services? We Provide best Chemistry Homework Help in UK so that you can achieve A+ Grade in your Homework.

With respect to the Woolworths Supermarket and the strategy above, its critical evaluation of the leadership practices of the company are discussed below:

Strengths

• Adaptation: One of the most prominent strengths of the organisation's leadership practices is that it paves for the company to adapt to the current market conditions. Moreover, within Australia, being customer centric is the only way through which the company could attract and retain more customers. Therefore, situational leadership style is very much effective for the firm in relation to adapting to changes within the marketplace and adhere to the current norms and preferences of customers. This would further have a positive impact on the company in relation to its strategy adopted by the firm recently, as customers' demands change constantly, which needs the company to be flexible enough to adapt with the same (Hoch and et. al., 2018).
• Empowerment: Another strength of the leadership practices of Woolworths is that it empowers the people within the company by providing them several opportunities to furnish their competencies and enhance their skills and competence. In addition to this, limited, but evident decision making power is being given to the employees within the company in terms of choosing the best manner in which they would like to perform their duties with maximum capabilities. Moreover, flexible structure and functioning of the company also contributes in easy adaptation by employees towards different methods and strategies adopted by the firm to accomplish their organisational objectives.
• Consistency: Apart from certain positives, there are weak points within the leadership practices as well, which have a negative impact towards the organisation's strategy. For instance, the company is not very much consistent when it comes to adhering to the leadership approaches used by the firm. This could be reflected by the fact that not every decision within the company has employees' say within its consideration. Moreover, the company's leadership practices have several loopholes when it comes to application within every department, as it is reflective above, that it has a very negative impact on the strategy. This is because keeping customer at the centre requires the firm in enhancing the consistent performance of employees towards satisfaction of customers. However, ineffective leadership practices and inappropriate distribution of power demotivate individuals to work effectively and consistently, which would be having a direct impact on the strategy being adopted by the company (Shamir, Arthur and House, 2018).
• Rigidity: As analysed in the previous section, the organisation has a very inconsistent in being dynamic and adopting leadership styles which suit the change. Moreover, in terms of power distribution, it took decisions which were definitely against the employees and their individual needs for betterment of the company. This highlights that the application and implementation of the organisation's leadership practices is quite ineffective and rigid, which impacts the company's strategy negatively. Reason for the same is that it is rigidity might lead to losses due to different in perceptions of employees and management of the company. in addition to this, ineffective implementation of the leadership approaches could lead to high resistance and redundancies within the company, which might give rise to conflicts and inefficiencies, but would be disadvantageous for the strategy of Woolworths

Weaknesses

RECOMMENDATIONS

As per the above analysis, it could be claimed that the organisation has an effective need to reform its leadership practices in ways which satisfies the organisation, its strategies and the employees themselves. Moreover, the problem of rigidity and inconsistency is required to be improvised which would help the company in accelerating the scope of improvement in terms of the performance of the company and towards its strategy (Sheninger, 2019). Hence, in relation to Woolworhts Supermarket, there are several recommendations that are provided as under:

• The company is required to test the leadership practices on the basis of satisfaction levels of employees, customers and frameworks performed by the company. In relation to this, the firm could acquire feedbacks within the same from all the stakeholders in context of monitoring the effectiveness of the leadership practices. This would provide the company with identification of areas within their leadership which requires improvement.
• Another recommendation for the organisation is that it could appropriately ensure better training and development activities within the organisation in relation to inhabiting the new culture with higher transparency and consistency of the employees. This would allow the company in adhering to effectiveness in performance of leaders on both managerial and ethical frameworks, which would also provide benefits to the stakeholders and organisation's strategies (Ginnett, 2019).

CONCLUSION

Hence, it is concluded from the report above that leadership is a very important practice which must be adhered to and implemented within an organisation to achieve higher competence and effectiveness in leading the company towards success. Moreover, leadership must be understood well by reflecting the historian and contemporary trends associated with this concept, along with determining the different between leadership and management. In addition to this, an organisation's current activities helps in realising the areas where the company is requiring and implementing its leadership. Furthermore, it is highly essential to analyse the strengths and weaknesses which are related to the leadership approaches within the company. In addition to this, the issues identified must be appropriately resolved by providing and adhering to several recommendations for the betterment of leadership implementation within the company.

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