This blog is about leadership and my learning experiences and personal leadership development. The core elements of my learning journey experiences and personal leadership development. Showing how I, as a leadership empowering enabler can apply and create different authority styles in the workplace, utilising and adapting delicate hard transferable and relational aptitudes into adding to the viability of making firm groups in the work space, using group building exercises and productive procedures of overseeing and driving groups. The main purpose of  this blog is to talk about my advancement and improvement as a future Leader, including my very own experiences which I have experienced to wind up a future Leader. It will likewise be including the input I gotten while I was dealing with a gathering of individuals and in addition the essential attributes that one head ought to have for being effective.

What is Leadership?

  “Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another” Maxwell (2015) to an achievement of an overall shared objective.

Leadership is research and practical skill enclose the ability of an individual to lead or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organisations.

The Qualities of Leadership

 

My Style of Leadership

I always wanted and trying to be more like democratic Leader. In this type of Leadership Group members are encouraged to share ideas and opinions, even though the leader retains the final say over decisions. Members of the group feel more engaged in the process. Creativity is encouraged and rewarded. For democratic leader studies suggest that the leader must have traits which includes honesty,  Intelligence, courage, creativity, competence, Fairness. Strong democratic leaders inspire trust and respect among followers. They are sincere and base their decisions on their morals and values. Followers tend to feel inspired to take action and contribute to the group. Good leaders also tend to seek diverse opinions and do not try to silence dissenting voices or those that offer a less popular point of view. Group members are encouraged to share their thoughts, democratic leadership can lead to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems. Group members also feel more involved and committed to projects, making them more likely to care about the end results.

My family running Real Estate Business from last 40 years in Pakistan. I started working on my family business when I was 16 years old. I worked there for a year and learned many skills one of them was Leadership. I was working  with investment department with multiple group members. I used the attend all the meetings and conferences . In conferences, every single member of the team used to take the part and gave their opinions which in one the key  component of company’s success.  I have managed to work with people from different cultures and had great progress. I worked as Team Leader and team member in group assignments, class participation with my class mates and i never had problem. I always prefer to work as Team Leader in projects.

Feed backs and evaluations contributing for my personal development

The assessment and feed backs I have got during my times in business, work and studies were different. In university, I was told to be more active when it came to taking decision.In my country,  listening to every individual was given high importance. I have additionally gotten criticism from individuals from my seniors and friends. Taking a gander at everything I have gotten blended criticism both negative and positive. The negative criticism has given me the will to right my wrongs and to work more diligently and better. Though for the positive input has spurred me to be enhance to an unheard of level, winding up increasingly effective. Despite everything I have far to go as far as turning into a persuasive and effective pioneer am still in learning process. I need to bring an increasingly knowledge to my family business for the betterment of the company.

 

Skills needs ahead for becoming a future Leader

I want to be an inspirational figure when I am working in a business expecting to impact the people that are working with me. Empowering and affecting my group members is always priority.

Heading towards the future I want to overcome my weaknesses  to make them my qualities and i will work on my qualities to become a great Leader. I will take a shot at them to wind up far and away superior as a Leader. Nobody is immaculate and thus everybody learns from their mistakes which is a key learning factor throughout everyday life. I want to implement my learnings into my Family’s Business.

References

Avery, G. C. (2005). Understanding Leadership. London: Sage Publications

Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press.

Bennis, W. (1994). On becoming a leader. (Rev. ed). Reading, MA: Perseus Books.

Bryman, A. (1996). Leadership in organizations. In Clegg S. R., Hardy, C. and Nord, W. R. (Eds). Handbook of Organization Studies, pp.276-292. London: Sage.

Conger, J.A. (1989). The charismatic leader: Behind the mystique of exceptional leadership. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.

Encyclopedia of Management (2009). Leadership Theories and Studies. In Encyclopedia of Management. http://www.enotes.com/management-encyclopedia/leadership-theories-studies

Fisk, P. (2002). The making of a digital leader. Business Strategy Review, 13 (1), 43-50.

 

The changes that occur within organisations are more successful if they take into account certain simple principles. Change management requires careful planning, implementing concrete action plan and involving everyone in the organisation who are affected by these changes. Problems may occur only if the change is made in constrained way (Gavrila T., V. Lefter, 2004). In recent years, many organisations have managed to identify the benefits resulting from outsourcing. By outsourcing to a specialised company, the organisation aims to increase productivity by focusing on the basic function. (M. Petrescu, 2010).

This blog will talk about the effect of Brexit on organisations inside the UK and the arrangements with respect to how they ought to defeat the brexit issue. I have seen number of  changes within the organisations on Brexit issue.

Brexit Impact on UK’s Supermarket Industry (Sainsburry’s)

Supermarket giants have warned the Treasury that a no-deal Brexit would force up the price of the average weekly food basket by as much as 12%. Senior executives from some of the big four supermarkets includes Tesco,  made the alarming prediction in briefings to the Treasury on the impact on food prices.The biggest tariffs on imports from the EU could include cheese, up by 44%, beef, up by 40%, and chicken, up 22% and other eatables imports of 22% (Wheeler C., Stubbington T., 2018).

Ex-Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King said Brexit will lead to “higher prices, less choice, and poorer quality” at supermarkets.

After brexit, Sainsburry’s import from Europe will be suffer. Sainsburry’s will be facing cash flow, liquidity problems, adds cost on brexit issue. Sainsburry’s mostly import Dairy products, vegetables, electronics, chicken, beef with almost zero tax from European countries. After it is going to be more import duties. It is also which is going affect end consumer and Organisation. Anything that encumbers that has two effects: it adds cost, and it also has a detrimental effect on freshness. Shipping fresh produce from a long distance, even a few hours of delay can make a material impact. As brexit going to be happen in march, 2019. Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles.

Even if a company is ready for Brexit, it will be disrupted if a supplier is not prepared and cannot meet its contracts. Assessing such risks will be an intense information-gathering exercise.  (Williams D, 2018)

Sainsnurry’s should be prepared to face the challenges and to overcome the challenges they should come with a strong plan. Sainsburry’s should have more warehouse for more capacity to store the products. They should have more cash flow for consumption tax to meet the demand for advent of custom with the European countries. The changes may even prompt some to consider relocation.

Solutions for Sainsbury’s

As brexit going to be happen in march 2019. Sainsnurry’s should be prepared to face the challenges and to overcome the challenges they should come with a strong plan. Sainsburry’s should have more warehouse for more capacity to store the products. They should have more cash flow for consumption tax to meet the demand for advent of custom with the European countries. The changes may even prompt some to consider relocation. Sainsbury’s should aslo invest on UK’s farmers to grow their own vegetables and fruits as much as possible  for the future.

Sainsbury’s should counter these issues by making alliance with other staple organisations which will profit them in a positive way. . Because of this they will have the capacity to concoct new procedures and openings, expanding their piece of the pie and client base.

The directors of Sainsbury’s have to be  patient and expert as the business is probably going to experience a major change because of Brexit. They should think of broad and successful arranging in relationship to the business, guaranteeing a brilliant and prosperous future for the firm.

Refernces

Leader

A leader must lead from the front. Leader is a procedure of social impact which boost the efforts of others toward the accomplishment of a more prominent great.

“Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.”– Professor Warren G. Bennis

gradwell.com

Leadership

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Leadership must have following expertise:

• Makes a motivating vision
• Connect with other individuals to connect with that vision.
• Manage to get set targets
• Train teams, which can effectively work to achieve the targets.

 

Leading in a changing world issues

There are  different assortment of perspectives and feelings on initiative as there are sure qualities that separate a Leader from a non-pioneer. There are a wide scope of contentions exhibited by researchers against the contemporary styles of administration. Some of them contend that there ought to be propelled speculations concentrating on assorted variety while different contends against them, featuring shortages in between.

Today’s world facing Leadership Problems

Globalisation has affecting globally and changing things.

“Leadership is one of the most complex and multifaceted phenomena to which organisational and psychological research has been applied. An evolutionary developmental perspective is used to create an evolutionary tree of leadership theory and reveal the path along which it has evolved. Nine evolutionary eras are identified, and requirements for a tenth era of leadership theory are discussed. These eras provide a broad framework for researchers and practising managers to categorise existing, and evaluate future, theories.”

David A. Van Seters (Stevenson, Kellogg, Ernst & Whinney)

 

During this era e present that the people question themselves that what precisely is the genuine idea of administration. The idea of how authentic the Leadership style is addressed. It is contended by specialists that in this era, more focus to be redirected towards initiative styles that are more valid and moral.

It’s relatively difficult to envision a circumstance where a Leader doesn’t need to adapt to outer difficulties. In an association, such issues as absence of subsidising and different assets, resistance from powers in the network, and relational issues inside the association frequently raise their heads. Social, financial, and political powers in the bigger world can influence the association too. To some degree, the proportion of any pioneer is the means by which well he can manage the steady progression of emergencies and minor disturbances that compromise the mission of his gathering. In the event that he can take care of issues, exploit openings, and resolve strife with a quality of quiet and at least object, the vast majority of the outer issues are not really detectable to any other person.

In the event that the pioneer doesn’t deal with outside difficulties well, the association presumably won’t, either. We’ve all observed instances of this, in associations where everybody, from the chief to the overseer, has an always stressed look, and news is passed in murmurs. At the point when individuals feel that pioneers are focused or uncertain, they themselves end up pushed or uncertain too, and the accentuation of the gathering moves from its central goal to the current troubling circumstance. Crafted by the gathering endures.

Challenges and Issues being faced by the leaders of today’s world

Currently, Difficulties and Issues being looked by the Leaders. of the present world. Leaders nowadays confront social difficulties and issues through which they ought to have worldwide experience to know the enthusiastic extents of working in various societies.Leader confront issues because of the world ending up progressively interconnected, through which people depend more on different sources that are controlled by different substances in various nations with various societies. The utilisation of Laissez-faire strategies influenced the workers in a negative way which diminished their trust for the Leader dissected that representatives are roused to work more diligently in the event that they are esteemed and regarded by their pioneer. The primary issue which my home country  Pakistan faces is that of culture, fairness and assorted variety. The pioneer’s style of authority is out to date them coming up short on an advanced nature. In the present business world, for the methodologies to work they must be modernised.

Development of Leadership Theories

Participative leadership theories suggest that the ideal leadership style is one that takes the input of others into account. These leaders encourage participation and contributions from group members and help group members feel more relevant and committed to the decision-making process. In participative theories, however, the leader retains the right to allow the input of others.

Contingency theories of leadership focus on particular variables related to the environment that might determine which particular style of leadership is best suited for the situation. According to this theory, no leadership style is best in all situations.

Task-oriented leaders focus only on getting the job done and can be autocratic. They actively define the work and the roles required, put structures in place, and plan, organize, and monitor work. These leaders also perform other key tasks, such as creating and maintaining standards for performance.

 

References

Brusilov, A. A. 1931. A Soldier’s Notebook: 1914-1918. Westport: Greenwood Press, Publishers.

Builder, C.H. The Masks of War: American Military Styles in Strategy and Analysis. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1989.

Caminiti, S. 1995. What team leaders need to know. Fortune, Feb 20: 94, 100.

Chaloupka, Mel G. 1987. Ethical responses: how to influence one’s organization. Naval War College Review (Winter): 80-90.

Chandler, Clay. 1997. Washingt Post, March 28: A 27.

Cherrington, J. O., and D. J. Cherrington. 1992. “A menu of moral issues: one week in the life of the Wall Street Journal. Journal of Business Ethics II 4: 255-265.

Church, A. H. 1997. Managerial self-awareness in high performing individuals in organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology 82 (2): 281-292.

Clark, Kim B. and Wheelwright, Steven C. 1992. Organizaing and leading ‘heavyweight’ development teams. California Management Review (Spring): 9-28.

Collins, James C. and Jerry I. Porras. 1991. Organizational vision and visionary organizations. California Management Review (Fall): 30-52.

Colosi, Thomas R. 1993. On and off the record: Colosi on negotiation. Dubuke, IO: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

 

Organisational culture includes an organisation expectations, experiences, philosophy, as well as the values that guide member behaviour, and is expressed in member self-image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world, and future expectations.

A strong culture is crucial to organisational success as it enables employees to be certain about what they think and feel, making them more dedicated to the organisation.

Deal and Kennedy (1980).  Kanter (1984)

Peter Drucker said,

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

This blog will accentuate on the different cultural models in the background of an organisation such as Debenhams and how it can be well managed as a tool for achievement. When discussing organisational culture management, we should know and consider with terms of  “culture” and “organisational culture”.

What is Culture?

(source:cloud9world)

Culture illustrates the accepted values, traditional behaviours, beliefs and attitudes of a group. However, culture also evolves over time. The culture of every country has its own beliefs, values, behaviours and attitudes.

culture by Deal and Kennedy is the way a we do things around here.

Culture is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time and are considered valid.

(Source: The Business Dictionary)

Organisational Cultue

Organisational cultural knows as underlying beliefs, assumptions, values and ways of interacting that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organisation.A deeply embedded and established culture illustrates how people should behave, which can help employees achieve their goals.

It is really important to understanding and management of organisational culture coherently for organisational success. According to Reigle refers to culture as an important factor in successful strategy making and implementation. But we need to know how important is this culture and to what extent does it affect organisational development?

The Iceberg Model Theory 

The iceberg model is a systems thinking tool designed to help an individual or group discover the patterns of behavior, supporting structures, and mental models that underlie a particular event.

Cultureiq. (2018)

From iceberg model, we came to know that there is more to culture for any organisation. Ideals, goals, values and aspirations are also come from organisational culture.

According to Edgar Schein (1992) they are two levels of culture (artefacts and beliefs). Both are treated as observed demonstration of cultural aspect. Most managers fail to ingrain the changes they implement due to disregard of the basic principal that drive culture.

Kim and Mauborgne (2004). Blue Ocean Strategy: examine four challenges a manager faces when instituting change in an organisation.

Cognitive – When implementing change in an organisations culture, employees must have some insight as to the reasons behind the changes.

Limited Resources Change in organisational culture involves a change in its strategy. Implementing change will require pulling resources from some areas in favor of others.

Motivation – In implementing change, a leader should be cautious in recognising and rewarding the right behaviours.

Institutional Politics – There is also the barrier of internal politics within the organisation.

Debenhams

Debenhams is a British multinational retailer operating under a department store format in the United Kingdom and Ireland with franchise stores in other countries.

 

(source: monkscrossshopping.com)

Change of strategy in Debenhams

Debenhams is a UK retail department store. After e-commerce trend Debenhams facing weak buyers spending and suffering from the shift in consumer buying behaviour. Traditional British retailer is one of the factors that cut down company’s profit. The company’s market value dropped by 40% in 2017.

Conforming to Handy types of organisational culture (1999), Debenhams using bureaucratic system of culture which includes members of company’s being confined to their role and responsibilities. Debenhams dismissed 320 managerial roles and two thousands employees to the organisation shop floor. After the changes, the organisation’s culture turned into task oriented. This positive certainty have positive affects on the company’s profit.

Forbes. and Drapers. (2018)

Managing Culture Effectively

Strong Corporate culture is the biggest challenge for any organisation. Having a solid corporate culture could be an essential achievement factor for an association. Be that as it may, accentuation on solid authoritative culture has added to the destruction of the absolute biggest enterprises.

(Robbins 2001)

On account of Enron, a ‘succeed at all costs’ way of life was the major contributory factor in the misrepresentation that caused the defeat of Enron. Enron workers were commanded to achieve accomplishment by all methods which supported untrustworthy character and conduct.

Having a strong organisational culture may not necessarily be detrimental to a company ethical behaviour as seen in the case of Disney. Having a diverse workforce, Disney encourages its employees to be innovative and maintain a high-quality standard across all product categories. The work environment fosters creativity and camaraderie across all its companies, giving room for employees to express their opinions unlike in the case of Enron where employees were afraid to speak out.

Having a solid authoritative culture may not really be inconvenient to an organization’s moral conduct as found on account of Disney. Having an assorted workforce, Disney urges its representatives to be inventive and keep up a great standard over all item classes. The workplace encourages imagination and brotherhood over the entirety of its organisations, giving space for representatives to express their sentiments not at all like on account of Enron where workers were hesitant to stand up.

Solid authoritative culture may not really be inconvenient to an organisation’s moral conduct as found on account of Disney. Having an assorted workforce, Disney urges its representatives to be inventive and keep up a great standard over all item classes. The workplace encourages imagination and brotherhood over the entirety of its organizations, giving space for representatives to express their sentiments not at all like on account of Enron where workers were hesitant to stand up.

Thank you for reading and let’s discuss more through the comment section.

References

Debenhams 2018 [Online] from

<https://ir.debenhams.com/financial-information/annual-report&gt;

The Guardian [Online] from

<https://www.theguardian.com/business/debenhams&gt;

<https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/LON:DEB/Debenhams-/rns/LSE20171208151653_13459616&gt;