Analyzing Managerial Style of ASOS CEO

This assignment analyzes the managerial style of the CEO of ASOS, Nick Beighton, using Henry Mintzberg's managerial roles. It examines the steps taken by the CEO to bring about a change in ASOS's structure and the company culture. It also discusses the leadership style, power, conflict, and influence at ASOS. Additionally, it explains the various motivation tactics utilized at ASOS. The assignment provides corporate examples and recommendations for increasing organizational performance.

ASOS PLC

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
TASK A......................................................................................................................................................3
Analyzing managerial style of CEO utilizing Henry Mintzberg’s managerial roles................................3
TASK B......................................................................................................................................................5
Examining step that taken by CEO to bring about a change in ASOS structure to achieve high
performance and analyze company culture brought by them and its influence on workers.....................5
TASK C......................................................................................................................................................7
Describing the leadership style of chief executive officer of ASOS that enhance organizational
effectiveness............................................................................................................................................7
TASK D......................................................................................................................................................8
Examining effective of power, conflict and influence at ASOS..............................................................8
TASK E-...................................................................................................................................................10
Explaining varied types of motivation tactics utilized at ASOS............................................................10
TASK F....................................................................................................................................................11
Corporate examples...............................................................................................................................11
TASK G....................................................................................................................................................12
Recommendations on increasing organizational performance...............................................................12
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Organizational theory refers to collection of interconnected concepts, descriptions that
justify behavior of groups or individuals, who coordinate and collaborative with each other, in
order to achieve strategic goals and objectives of a venture. It also defines attribute to individual
person that perform together to reach at desire outcomes. While organizational practice is
defined as routine of a company that utilize knowledge to obtain expected results. The current
assignment will be based on ASOS, which falls under category of leading online fashion and
cosmetic brands in the world. As well-known British fashion brand, it offers quality products to
customers with purpose of increasing their satisfactory level even better than other companies in
industry.
The study will explain managerial style of chief executive using Henry Mintzberg’s
managerial duties and define any step take by them regarding change in current structure. It will
justify leadership style of CEO and effect of conflict, power and influence at company.
Furthermore, the report will clarify usage of various forms of motivation tactics and suitable
examples of it in organizational context. Lastly, it will define discussion based on suggestions
that would individual make to maximize organizational performance within fashion industry
opposite to key rivals.
TASK A
Analyzing managerial style of CEO utilizing Henry Mintzberg’s managerial roles
Chief Executive officer of a firm is one of those stakeholders that take initiatives to grow
business even better and achieve greater success within specific market (Chahine and Zhang,
2020). They utilize particular and effective management style. Here, Henry Mintzberg’s
managerial concept use to define managerial style of ASOS CEO and he is Nick Beighton. The
theory defines key ten duties that are;
Figurehead-
It defines nature of a manager or owner in term of their humbleness, kindness, friendly
attitude etc. that made them respectable person.
Leader-

This role state that a person may become effective leader when they take accountability
to support other people at workplace and motivate them (Mintzberg Managerial Roles, 2021).
Monitor-
This style drive attention of individual to analyze environment for new info to gather.
Liaison-
A person who may take initiative to coordinate and collaborate with other people outside
their business in effective manner may play role as liaison.
Disseminator-
An individual who may pass key information directly to staff to drive their attentions
towards obtaining benefits.
Spokesperson-
When a person shares important data with people outside their company to improve
productivity they may know as spokesperson.
Disturbance handler-
This managerial role is difficult to play as it require to perform in ethical manner in term
of solving issues.
Entrepreneur-
A business owner may be an entrepreneur who tend to enhance organizational
productivity by initiating beneficial projects.
Negotiator-
The person who play this role may commit organizational resources in actual duration
with wide information accessible from their informational duties.
Resource allocator-
Individual as per this role may take fair decision regarding resources allocation among
workers.

From above 9, the ASOS CEO may have leaders, negotiator, and disturbance handler,
managerial styles, which he uses to motivate his staff and support culture of creativity at
workplace, which is quite essential for them to create because it help to boost morale and
productivity of workers. He is the best example of a creative leader as he takes initiative to
innovative something new in term of product or service, which may reflect his venture mission
and that it “To give individual customer confidence to be who they want to be”. As a negotiator,
he negotiates plans and strategies to staffs that aims is to reach at desire outcomes. He makes
discussion with other people and encourage them to engage in decision making for sharing
creative ideas.
TASK B
Examining step that taken by CEO to bring about a change in ASOS structure to achieve high
performance and analyze company culture brought by them and its influence on workers
Change within organizational structure is defined as procedure of growing venture and
improving their performance level, better than last few years or month. The decision related to
any kind fluctuation may held upon hand of certain people, among which CEO is the one. Nick
Beighton is the chief executive officer of ASOS, they take many effective and important
decisions to grow venture even better. He takes step to change company structure, which consists
of a board of two non-executive and three executive directors. Continuous success and expansion
of firm may drive the attention of CEO towards making change in current structure and adopting
new one and that is hierarchical, which encompasses of individual departments that take varied
accountabilities such as product designing, testing, warehousing, etc. that help to increase brand
productivity and performance in fashion industry more than its key competitors.
In the world of business, there are varied concepts or models available that management
and ASOS CEO may take into their consideration to implement organizational change plan into
practical manner.
Kurt Lewin Change Model-
Unfreeze-

According to this stage, management may take step to implement change decision in
effective manner, by collaborating with staff and making discussion with them regarding it,
which is quite essential (Muldoon, 2020).
Figure 1: Kurt Lewin's Change Model
(Source: Kurt Lewin Change Model, 2020)
Change-
After above steps, they may move to next stage where after making group discussion,
CEO may start process of organizational structure change with support of staffs and other
stakeholders.
Refreezing-
With new structure, management may take initiative to support employees to accept it
and work with new environment easily by guiding them.
Handy’s organizational culture-
This model helps to define varied organizational culture that many firms like ASOS use,
which put direct impact on staffs.
Power culture- it defines power hold within a company by certain people who may
influence other (Šehić–Kršlak, 2020).

Figure 2: Handy's Organizational Culture
(Source: What is Organizational Culture, 2020)
Role culture- It is a kind of hierarchical bureaucracies that tend to reach to any change in
external environment.
Task culture- it justify environment where teams are formed on the basis of their skilled
to work on particular project.
Person culture- it drive the attention of individual towards providing more importance to
themselves instead of other (Karamushka and et.al., 2020).
From above discussion, it can be said that CEO may establish his business culture within
ASOS in term of using their power in fair manner and providing task on the basis of key
competencies of individual staff member. This kind of culture may put positive impact on
workers in term of increasing their productivity and performance level.
TASK C
Describing the leadership style of chief executive officer of ASOS that enhance organizational
effectiveness
In order to enhance organizational effectiveness and efficiency, an entrepreneur used
particular and the most appropriate leadership style that are available in varied types in the world
of business. Just like them, CEO of ASOS also chose and utilize a leadership form, which made
him capable to improve organization effectiveness.
Nick Beighton utilize democratic leadership style that reflect in his behavior and
practices within organization (Syamsidar, Lian and Fitriani, 2021). For example, he takes

initiative to create innovative environment at workplace and drive the attention of workers
towards conducting productive and useful practices by supporting them and boosting their
morale. This style made him the most influencing leaders at work area where millions of people
work together in order to achieve strategic goals of company. Chosen style made a leader
capable to motivate staff, so as Nick with this style also take action to encourage his workers to
share their point of views with him and other people at workplace, which in return increase
ASOS performance and efficiency to serve and provide quality products to customers on time
with value added features that is an amazing effort that employees and CEO may made.
Democratic is one of the best leadership styles that Nick uses to motivate workers which
directly or indirectly enhance his organizational as well as operational effectiveness even better
than other brands that has been operated in similar industry to achieve their business objectives
and to gain competitive edge, just like ASOS tend to obtain. With this style, CEO may obtain a
lot of advantages, for example, he may bring more creative view points and get while making a
group meeting or discussion. It made him stronger in term of solving staffs issues and allow
them to feel comfortable by providing appropriate solutions regarding each problem specifically.
The best thing about, democratic leadership style that it permits individual or user to build
trustworthy and strong relationship with candidate which work for them as it increases their
productivity that directly enhance organizational efficiency in profitable and effective manner
(Meydita, Puspitaningtyas and Murdiastuti, 2021). This style contributes to boost morale and
enhance job satisfaction of workers, which enable them to retain with such amazing brand like
ASOS.
TASK D
Examining effective of power, conflict and influence at ASOS
Conflict, authority and influence are those elements or factors that affect staff
performance and individual behavior in varied ways. To define the effects of each component
beneficial strategic concept or model use that is;
French and Raven types of power-
Legitimate power-

Usage of this power by leader may conduct in systematically that affect individual
positively.
Reward power-
It drives attention of management to utilize their power in fair manner, in term of
rewarding candidates base on their hard work (Hanusch, Banjac and Maares, 2020).
Referent power-
Leader within ASOS may use this power to encourage staff by collaborating and
communicating with them.
Expert-
It may influence positively, when leader may use their power in term of experience in
ethical manner and give suggestions to each without making any kind of differences between
existing and new employee.
Coercive-
It may affect negatively when leader punish staff for their minor mistakes as individual
may not accept this kind of behavior from management.
Influence affect at company-
Positive influence by leaders in term of conducting activities to motivate employees may
affect positively upon brand in form of building strong team of players that contribute to grow its
venture and support to gain competitive edge that is actually essential to obtain.
Conflict affect at firm-
It may put negative impact on ASOS and its worker’s performance in term of decreasing
staff productivity because an individual may do not prefer to work at those workplace, where
people are unable to understand and support each other, which is the main reason behind
conflict.
The effects of power and other forces at company may depend on management and
leaders as well as other stakeholders who may use it to conduct specific duty and obtain

outcomes. For example, when CEO provide appraisal to staff by considering their efforts instead
of taking favor of their favorite one, they may create a positive and productive as well as
influencing working environment where people prefer to perform and remain for longer time
period. It may influence individual to stay with brand and move forward to gain competitive
edge and many more benefits which in return increase sales, profitability, demand for quality
cosmetic items at global level, etc.
TASK E-
Explaining varied types of motivation tactics utilized at ASOS
Motivation is the key source that has been used by many leaders and stakeholders to
retain skilled and talented employees with them forever who are capable to increase the
productivity and performance of a brand, which may operate in specific sector by targeting
particular group of consumers. At ASOS, CEO may utilize certain tactics related to motivation
which enable them to obtain unexpected outcomes. In term of strategies, he may choose certain
practices that may define through usage of particular model such as Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs-
Psychological needs-
At, this stage, leader and manager may take action to develop strategy in term of
fulfilling needs like accommodation, food, and other basic things of workers, which increase
their morale and allow them to feel valuable. It made them capable to grow and get success as
they want.
Safety and security needs-
Just like above, management may take another strategy into their consideration and
implement into practical manner. For example, they may develop tactic to provide PF and
employee security to existing as well as new candidates that help to retain all of them.
Love and belongingness-
Another strategy that leader may adopt and utilize is support that they may give to staff.
They may support and guide workers to make their work appropriate and complete on time,
which is a great thing they may do to motivate employees.

Esteem-
At this phase, management may take action to develop strategy in term of respecting
work and hard efforts of employee that also contribute to encourage staff. It helps to boost their
morale, which as important as increasing productivity and performance of teams.
Self-actualization-
In term of training, leader may accept this tactic and use for longer time period to gain
continuous advantages.
In term of tactics, management may take each practice or method into their consideration
that allow them to motivate employees and retain them with brand. Fulfilment of each need it the
way to encourage individual person, and drive their attention towards more hard work.
TASK F
Corporate examples
Apple-
As per the view of (Al Khajeh, 2018) CEO of Apple uses democratic style of leadership
and with the help of that he has been able to brought out the confidence of his team members.
Apple hired employees on the basis of their skills and now with this form of leadership they have
been able to delegate responsibility between them which has helped them become more
successful. Employees are now allowed to raise their voice so that they can share their ideas and
add it in key features of their products. This decision of involving people has helped company a
lot in recent years and their market capitalization has gained benefit from it.
Twitter-
In accordance with (Parés, Ospina and Subirats, 2017) even Twitter was designed by
following democratic leadership style by their CEO and with time they were able to achieve
growth because of their business model. Their leadership might be democratic but business
model was collaborative as customers came together in order to lead the company and participate
in their venture by sharing tweets. They have even allowed users to share their ideas and
recommendations so that they can bring that perception into formulation of their strategies which
will make their business more customer oriented.

Google-
According to (Szeto, 2021) even Google adopts this style of leadership and it is considered that it
is one of the reasons behind their achievement of growth through various aggressive drivers.
Now this has only kept to an extent where area of recruitment is concerned so that they work
with only best talents available.
TASK G
Recommendations on increasing organizational performance
Performance evaluation and benefits-
In order to improve the performance of business it is important that leaders of company
evaluate their performance and progress they have made over the years so that they can increase
their performance. It is important for them to be include rewards and set them on the tasks which
needs to be completed as priority because employees will be attracted to those which helps them
to earn rewards. Leaders of company also need to make sure that their employees are satisfied
with their job as it directly linked with their performance which is why they have to offer them
rewards, recognize their work and maintain relationship with them.
Quality of Work-
In order to improve the performance management at ASOS needs to assess their quality
of work done as the work done by them is passed on to customers. It is important to match with
the demand in market by maintaining the same standard of quality. This is why it is necessary to
update the procedures that are used in the channels of production so that they can achieve their
objectives by getting better results in their line of work.
Engaging the employees-
Leaders of the company needs to make sure that their employees are engaged in the line
of work they are joined in. levels of engagement with their work needs to be checked because
more engaged they are work it will determine that they are ready to take extra necessary steps in
order to do that. This is why leaders needs to assess how passionate they are for their work so
that they do not hesitate to commit towards it and work for the benefit of company. In order to
improve their performance, they need to implement multiplier effect or keep the employees in

loop about the strategy they are about to use so that they can have trust on them. Apart from that
they need to keep a check on their departments and procedures they are using so that they can
assess them with guidance and necessary changes in their steps which will help to increase their
performance.
CONCLUSION
From above analysis, it has been concluded that by using appropriate managerial style,
and democratic leadership style, CEO has obtained a lot of advantages. He has gained greater
success and grow his venture successfully. By taking initiatives to motivate workers, he has
taken varied approaches into his considerations. The managerial style of CEO of ASOS has
helped them to shape their business and help them improve their position in market because he
was successful in identifying areas in which they were lacking and with the help of
implementing right changes in their structure they were able to excel in market. Apart from that
their democratic style of leadership used by them helped the company to improve their
effectiveness and serve their customer with quality assurance. In order to keep the employees
motivated management at company used Maslow’s theory as it helped them to reduce their rate
of turnover and improve their performance. This was because company were able to understand
their needs and on the basis of that decisions were taken and rewards were offered to them so
that they can remain satisfied. This analysis also has recommendations in order for company to
increase their performance.

REFERENCES
Book and Journals
Chahine, S. and Zhang, Y., 2020. Change gears before speeding up: The roles of Chief Executive
Officer human capital and venture capitalist monitoring in Chief Executive Officer change
before initial public offering. Strategic Management Journal. 41(9). pp.1653-1681.
Muldoon, J., 2020. Kurt Lewin: Organizational Change. The Palgrave Handbook of Management
History. pp.615-632.
Šehić–Kršlak, S., 2020. The impact of organizational culture on business enterprises in BiH.
Journal of Ekonomi. 2(1). pp.1-4.
Karamushka, L. and et.al., 2020. Relationship between job-related tension, negative affect at
work and organizational culture. Social Welfare: Interdisciplinary Approach. 2(9).
Syamsidar, S., Lian, B. and Fitriani, Y., 2021. Application of Democratic Leadership Style in
Improving Employee Work Discipline and Motivation. ISEJ: Indonesian Science Education
Journal. 2(1). pp.1-11.
Meydita, M., Puspitaningtyas, Z. and Murdiastuti, A., 2021. The Influence of Democratic
Leadership and Individual Characteristics on Employee Productivity. Regional Dynamic: Journal
of Policy and Business Science. 1(2). pp.76-85.
Hanusch, F., Banjac, S. and Maares, P., 2020. The Power of Commercial Influences: How
Lifestyle Journalists Experience Pressure from Advertising and Public Relations. Journalism
Practice. 14(9). pp.1029-1046.
Szeto, E., 2021. How do principals’ practices reflect democratic leadership for inclusion in
diverse school settings? A Hong Kong case study. Educational Management Administration &
Leadership, 49(3), pp.471-492.
Parés, M., Ospina, S.M. and Subirats, J. eds., 2017. Social innovation and democratic leadership:
communities and social change from below. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Al Khajeh, E.H., 2018. Impact of leadership styles on organizational performance. Journal of
Human Resources Management Research, 2018, pp.1-10.

Online
Mintzberg Managerial Roles. 2021. [Online]. Available Through: <
https://www.toolshero.com/management/mintzberg-managerial-roles/>
Kurt Lewin Change Model. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:
https://sanzubusinesstraining.com/kurt-lewin-change-model/
What is Organisational Culture. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.leadershipforces.com/what-is-organisational-culture/>