Impact of Leadership on Employee Performance and Productivity: A Study on Waitrose

This study explores the impact of leadership on employee performance and productivity within the workplace of Waitrose, a British supermarket retailer. It examines the different leadership styles used by Waitrose and the relationship between leadership and employee performance. The aim is to identify the importance of effective leadership in improving employee productivity and performance.

Research Methods
Impact of leadership on employee performance and
productivity within a workplace of an organisation:
A study on Waitrose
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Contents
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INTRODUCTION
Leadership refers to the act of motivating and influencing people and group of people t
work towards accomplishment of organisational goals and objectives. In simple work, leadership
is an important process of improving performance and productivity of employee within a
workplace (Pounds, 2018). Waitrose is a chosen British supermarket retailer that is specialising
in selling of food and providing online shopping to the customers. Waitrose was originated in
1904 by the David Taylor, Arthur Rose and Wallace Waite, and located in Bracknell, Berkshire,
and Victoria, London, United Kingdom. Waitrose wants to expand their business operations at
international level and for this, it is important for them to improve performance and productivity
of their employee, which is only possible with the use of leadership. Therefore, it is significant
for Waitrose to have effective leadership styles within a workplace because this will help them in
increasing of their business growth and success at national as well as international level.
RATIONALE
Main rationale for selecting of this topic is to recognise the benefits of leadership within a
workplace of an organisation. Along with this, current research or topic is important for an
individual, academic and organisation. For an individual, present research is important for
researcher because with the support of this study, they can easily enhance their decision making
skill, time management skill and presentation skills that result in improvement of their personal
and professional growth (Salanova and et. al., 2020). For organisation, current research topic
facilitates them by providing accurate information regarding the importance of improved
employee performance and productivity in business expansion. This will be beneficial for them
in achievement of competitive advantages. For academic, current research is highly significant
for students by enhancing their understanding regarding the leadership. Thus, present
investigation or topic is extremely essential for above all stakeholders i.e. organisation,
individual and academic.
Literature review
What is the concept leadership in context of Waitrose?
According to the Eyal, Schwartz and Berkovich (2020), in Waitrose, leadership is the
capability to build up confidence among employees and to develop an urge within them to be
lead. This is an important part for business because with the help of this, company can easily
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enhance productivity and performance of their employee that turn to impact on their brand
reputation.
What types of leadership styles used by Waitrose?
As per the opinion of Sari and Nugraha (2020), there are different types of leadership
styles are used by Waitrose for providing accurate guidance to employees. Waitrose democratic
style of people management includes two-way communication, participation and lots of
listening. This is an effective style because it makes management downwardly responsible in
providence of accurate guidelines to the employee (Badillo-Vega, Krücken and Pineda, 2021).
There are also different types of leadership styles used by Waitrose such as autocratic, Laisse-
Faire etc. All these are effective styles and helps employees I taking of a participation within
business activities.
What is the relationship between leadership and employee performance and productivity?
As per the opinion presented by Arifin and Putra (2020), leadership is an important and
significant part within an organisation because without leadership, company not able to increase
productivity and performance among employee. It means, leadership has positive relationship
with employee performance and productivity. This is important for company in improving of
their business performance, retaining of highly experienced employee, aching of competitive
advantages etc. Thus, main role of leadership at workplace is to enhance performance and
productivity in employees by providing them accurate information and guidance.
AIM
The aim of current research is “To identify the importance of having effective leadership
in improvement of employee productivity and performance towards work”. A study on Waitrose
OBJECTIVES
 To develop basic understanding about the leadership in context of Waitrose.
 To determine the types of leadership styles used by Waitrose.
 To examine the relationship between leadership and employee performance and
productivity.
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METHODOLOGY
Methodology within a research introduces to the effective process of gathering data and
information from appropriate research method. Main purpose of methodology is to help
investigator by providing accurate and reliable data about the topic (Saputro, Setiawan and
Kurniawati, 2020). Thus, there are various essential types of methodologies that are used within
a research. These are described as under:
Approach
This is an important part of methodology because it helps investigator n collecting and
analysing of proper information about the topic through research approach. In order to collect
information, there are two effective approaches that are known a qualitative and quantitative.
These are main approaches of data collection but for collecting information regarding the
importance of having effective leadership in improvement of employee productivity and
performance towards work, quantitative approach is more valuable because it provides data in
numbers and within minimum time period (Headley and Plano Clark, 2020). Qualitative is
another approach of data collection that is not suitable within a research because it takes
maximum resources and time.
Along with this, there are also two essential approaches of data analysis such as inductive
and deductive. These are main approaches but for evaluating quantitative data regarding the
leadership, deductive approach is more beneficial for the researcher (Mansoor and et. al., 2021).
Main purpose behind the selection of deductive approach is it helps investigator in getting of
reliable outcomes within less time period. Inductive is another approach of the research that is
not effective within a research because it consume maximum time and not helps in analysing of
data from larger sample size.
Therefore, within a current research, quantitative approach as a data collection and
deductive approach as a data analysis will be used for achieving all objectives in successful
manner.
Design
This is the process of identifying research problem. There are basically three main types
of research designs i.e. exploratory, descriptive and experimental (Alcock, 2021). These are
consider main and effective types of research designs but according to the current study,
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descriptive research design is more valuable for investigator because it helps in identifying of
accurate research problem through quantitative data (Raithel, van Knippenberg and Stam, 2021).
There are various reasons behind the selection of descriptive research design such as provide
numerical information, easily find out research problem etc. Exploratory and experimental types
of research design are not effective in existing research because it not facilitate in identify of
research problem within minimum time period.
Methods
There are two effective methods of collecting data i.e. primary and secondary. Both types
of data collection methods are valuable within a current study because it helps in attainment of
research aim successfully. For primary research, there are different instruments of data collection
such as interview, questionnaire, observation, focus group, modelling etc. These are main
instruments and techniques of collecting primary information but for gathering primary data
about the significance of having effective leadership in enhancement of employee productivity
and performance towards work, questionnaire is useful instrument (Force, 2020). This will be
used for gathering data about the topic. Main aim behind the use of questionnaire is it helps in
getting of quantitative and first-hand data from larger sample.
Along with this, secondary is another type of research that will be used within a project.
There are numerous sources of collecting secondary information about the effectiveness of
leadership styles in employee performance and productivity. These sources are books, journals,
magazines, publication research etc. All these sources will be used for literature review in
attaining of each objective of the research through research questions (HsienYu and KuoYan,
2020).
Thus, within a present investigation, both primary as well as secondary methods of data
collection will be applied for achieving all objectives (Clay-Williams and et. al., 2020).
Participants
There are two techniques of selecting participants such as probability and non-
probability. Both are effective techniques but for selecting participant’s or current research,
probability will be a selected sampling technique. With the use of probability sampling, 40
employees of Waitrose are selected randomly. Main aim behind the use of probability sampling
as it provides quantitative information about the topic from larger number of participants and
within minimum time (Cook, Fletcher and Peyrebrune, 2021). Non-probability sampling is not
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an essential technique in current research because it requires maximum time and not assists in
getting of valid outcomes.
Validity and reliability
It is important for researcher to collect valid and reliable information about the topic
because it helps in attaining of all objectives in successful manner. For this, questionnaire will be
applied by researcher because it provides valid and reliable data about the topic that result in
accomplishment of all objectives effectively.
Data analysis
This introduces to the process of evaluating gathered data or information from analytical
technique. In order to analysis data about the leadership, frequency distribution analysis will be
doing to use by researcher. This is an important and useful technique because it helps in
evaluating of quantitative data within minimum time (Huang and et. al., 2021). Therefore,
according to the current research, questionnaire will be used for collecting data in quantitative
form. Thus, frequency distribution analysis is an effective analytical technique of data analysis in
present investigation.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Alcock, P. M., 2021. Cybersecurity Perception and Behavior, Insights from a Global Workforce:
A Quantitative Comparative Study (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University).
Arifin, S. and Putra, A. R., 2020. Employee Performance Development through Work
Experience, Work Ethic, Compensation. IOSR Journal of Business and Management.
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Badillo-Vega, R., Krücken, G. and Pineda, P., 2021. Changing analytical levels and methods of
leadership research on university presidents. Studies in Higher Education, 46(4),
pp.677-689.
Clay-Williams, R. and et. al., 2020. Do quality management systems influence clinical safety
culture and leadership? A study in 32 Australian hospitals. International Journal for
Quality in Health Care, 32(Supplement_1), pp.60-66.
Cook, G. M., Fletcher, D. and Peyrebrune, M., 2021. Olympic coaching excellence: A
quantitative study of psychological aspects of Olympic swimming
coaches. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 53. p.101876.
Eyal, O., Schwartz, T. R. and Berkovich, I., 2020. Ideological leadership in public
schools. Journal of Educational Administration.
Force, P. T., 2020. Preregistration Standards for Psychology-the Psychological Research
Preregistration-Quantitative (aka PRP-QUANT) Template.
Headley, M. G. and Plano Clark, V. L., 2020. Multilevel mixed methods research designs:
Advancing a refined definition. Journal of mixed methods research. 14(2). pp.145-
163.
HsienYu, S. and KuoYan, W., 2020. The Application of a Managerial Competency Model in
Employee Promotion—Combination of AHP and VIKOR
Methodology. International Journal of Business and Management. 15(7).
Huang, P. and et. al., 2021. Research on quantitative method of particle segregation based on
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Mansoor, A. and et. al., 2021. Does inclusive leadership incite innovative work
behavior?. Human Systems Management, 40(1), pp.93-102.
Pounds, J., 2018. The impact of manager integrity as perceived by employees and the
corresponding effect on productivity (Doctoral dissertation, Trident University
International).
Raithel, K., van Knippenberg, D. and Stam, D., 2021. Team leadership and team cultural
diversity: The moderating effects of leader cultural background and leader team
tenure. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, p.15480518211010763.
Salanova, M. and et. al., 2020. Linking transformational leadership to nurses’ extra‐role
performance: the mediating role of self‐efficacy and work engagement. Journal of
advanced nursing. 67(10). pp.2256-2266.
Saputro, A. T., Setiawan, M. and Kurniawati, D. T., 2020. The Antecedents of employee
performance in public services: Information technology or transformational
leaders. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-
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Sari, R. M. and Nugraha, E., 2020. Impact of Leadership, Organizational Culture and
Communication System on Human Capital and Implication on Productivity
Enhancement in Indonesian Public Sector.
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