Comparing Leadership and Culture in Retail and Construction Management

This report provides a comparative analysis of leadership styles and organizational culture within the construction management and retail industries. It examines the significance of organizational culture and staff motivation in fostering a competitive business environment. The report highlights key issues and challenges specific to each industry, with a particular focus on leadership approaches and their impact on employee motivation, empowerment, and retention. It explores managerial styles, task direction, and cultural risks within retail, contrasting these with the unique aspects of the built environment, including the importance of employee engagement and the influence of salary and project responsibilities. The report emphasizes the critical role of organizational learning, monetary incentives, and the adaptation to economic fluctuations in maintaining a productive and motivated workforce in both sectors. The analysis underscores the need for effective leadership to drive success and address industry-specific dynamics.

Running head: CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
Construction Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Abstract
The purpose of this following paper is to discuss about the leadership style and organizational
culture of the two industries- retail industry and the construction management industry or the
Built Environment. The importance of the organizational culture and the leadership style has
been discussed in this paper. Both are instrumental for the business environment as it is very
much competitive. The various issues and challenges in both the industries have been displayed
in this paper with special focus on the leadership style and the organizational culture. The
motivation of the employees is very closely related with the organizational culture. The
employees will have to be secured by the organizations in a way that they do not have find for
another work. The managerial style of the retail industry has been described in this industry as
well. The employees will have to be motivated by the organizational culture and the authentic
leadership style that is quite opposite to the leadership style of the retail industry.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Importance of organizational culture...............................................................................................3
Importance of staff motivation........................................................................................................4
Empowerment..............................................................................................................................5
Creativity and innovation............................................................................................................5
Organizational learning...............................................................................................................6
Monetary and other incentives.....................................................................................................6
Managerial style in the retail industry.............................................................................................6
Directing the tasks.......................................................................................................................7
Cultural risks................................................................................................................................7
Staff motivation for the Built Environment.....................................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The following paper discusses about the comparison between the Built Environment and
the retail industry. This has to be said in the context that retail industry is one of the most
pressurized industries on the world. There are some characteristics in this industry that will have
to be addressed. On the other hand, the Built Environment or the construction industry has its
own characteristics as well. Some aspects are very common in this scenario and that are the
motivation of the employees and the organizational culture. It is a common thing that the
employees are the most valuable assets to an organization and their profits. So, this is extremely
necessary for the organizations in all the industries to practice proper motivation strategies and
exercising a proper organizational culture that will cater to the betterment and development of
the organization. The management practice in the organizations within the retail industry is quite
robust indeed (Pantano 2014). The effectiveness of the organization depends on the various
factors like the well maintenance of the infrastructures, providing the employees with the best
opportunities and rewarding them for their works. The employees of the retail industry face a lot
of pressure so that their ineffectiveness becomes quite a challenging task for the management of
the organizations. The Built Environment industry is one such industry that deals with the
construction management. The organizational culture of this industry is quite different from that
of the retail industry (Pantano 2014).
Importance of organizational culture
Organizational culture is one of the most important tools for the organizations to succeed
in the competitive business environment (Barney 2014). The practice of a proper organizational
culture helps the organizations to flourish and survive in this business environment. The
organizational culture depicts whether the employees are dedicated to the organizational beliefs

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or they can interact and communicate with each other (Alvesson 2012). The communication
between the employees plays a massive part in determining whether the employees know each
other and can complement each other in their works. The employees should always be loyal to
the management policies and act in a way that the organizational motives can be achieved by
their activities. The motivation of the employees has a major role to play in the success of the
organizations. The employees in all the organizations try their level best to perform for the
benefits of the organization. The works have to be recognized by the higher management and
they must be motivated to think in the same line as of their managers for the benefit of the
organization (Lazaroiu 2015). The human resource manager should make some policies by
which the employees can always be benefitted and they feel to be motivated. The proper
organizational culture or organizational culture helps the human beings The employees need
proper motivation to perform their duties and they should perform only in a way that they can
bring the success to the organizations. The organizational culture is also responsible for creating
the brand image of an organization as well. This culture is the identity of the organization (Nica
2013).
Importance of staff motivation
Employee motivation is one of the most important aspects in the case of the betterment of
the organizations because the employees are needed to be motivated and perform better in this
competitive business environment. The organizational commitment is the most important thing
that the employee should indulge in (Dobre 2013) The management should always look to
motivate the employees and this should be their major concern to gain the momentum for a better
profit market. The management has to look after the situation as whether the economy or sinking
or improving. In any case, the employees should be ready to improve the situation (Dobre 2013).

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The employees have to perform their duties in a well arranged manner and therefore strive to
engage in the growth of the organization. In the case of the retail organizations, the employee
motivation is quite complex idea as well. The nature of work in the retail industry is very
competitive and the people who are in that arena are always on the hunt for better opportunities
and go to higher organizations. There are some ways to motivate the employees and they should
be followed in the greatest of measures. The way to motivate the employees in this competitive
business environment is employee empowerment and changing the job designs for the betterment
of the employee careers (Dobre 2013) The reward systems will have to be revised as well.
Empowerment
The employee should be given more powers in case of the decision making process and
take up responsibilities by their own (Fernandez and Moldogaziev 2012). The employees in the
retail industry should be allocated with such tasks to which they are better familiar with. It can be
sales or marketing or both of them. This way the employees will learn to understand the
negatives in them and improve it for their own development.
Creativity and innovation
The management of the organizations often does not put focus on the creative and
innovative ideas of their employees (Henry and Mayle 2016). The employees are afraid that their
views many be ignored in real time. The employees who are hired to work for the organization
and make serious developments should be able to express their ideas as a part of their general
capacity (Fernandez and Moldogaziev 2012). The experience of the employee should be given
much importance and their ideas and remarks must be given some importance as they have some
good amount of experience under their bags. The ideas regarding the creativity and innovation
should be interchanged with other people working in the organization. The importance should be

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laid on the idea about product and service development which the employees handle directly
(Henry and Mayle 2016).
Organizational learning
Organizational learning is a very important aspect in relation to the betterment of the
organizations and the employees are a big part in this continuous development. The
organizations need to build a strong workforce and go through a learning process every single
time (Argote 2012). The employees must have self-confidence within themselves. They must be
able to adjust to the major organizational changes and make the employee attitudes for the
betterment of the organizations.
Monetary and other incentives
There should be such programs within the various industries and especially retail industry
that should reward the employees with the rewards (Shields et al. 2015). The employees who
display their skills in a better way to achieve their targets should be rewarded in due time. The
productivity should be increased by the employees by working hard and the retail industry
employees should be able to attract the customers’ attraction towards them. They should be
presented with various kinds of incentives and rewards that will keep them aligned with the
benefits of the organization (Shields et al. 2015). These motivating effects will be very much
inspiring to the employees in the retail industry.
Managerial style in the retail industry
The retail industry is one of the most recognized fields in the global business
environment. The managerial style in this industry is some kind of different from the
construction management industry in many aspects (Varley and Rafiq 2014). It is the duty of the

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managers or the leaders to implement some leadership styles that can be transferred to the
employees and in return it would cater to the motivation of the employees. The store managers
can work as the leaders in the retail industry.
Directing the tasks
The key factors in the leadership styles lay in the factors of people management and task
direction for the organizations. It is believed that the autocratic leadership style may fit into the
retail industry and the task-oriented leaders may be successful to complete the works in an
effective way (Fernie and Sparks 2014). They should be able to react quickly to the problems
that may arise. The customer problems might be mitigated properly.
Cultural risks
The cultural risks involve the scenarios in which the leaders in the retail industry that the
task-oriented are not much worried about the betterment of the employees. They are only
cautious about the completion of the works. These measures can lead to the burnout of the
employees and the retail organizations would not be able to make effective employee retention.
The extra amount of pressure on the employees during the holidays may lead to the
dissatisfaction of the employees. The employees may not be able to cater to the growth of the
organization because of the mentality of the task-oriented managers (Fernie and Sparks 2014).
Staff motivation for the Built Environment
Built environment or the construction management is an organized sector in which the
employees are needed to be motivated in a better way. The white-collar employees in this section
are needed to be motivated by the upper management (Fulford and Standing 2014). The
employees should be made aware of the construction site environment and this is not the case

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about the retail industry employees. They can get in touch with the business environment
through the virtual ways. It is not necessary that should attend the venues or the shops. While on
the other hand, the engineers and the other employees must be present at the construction sites.
The employee retention rate is one of the most intriguing matters for the company to survive in
the market environment (Aguenza and Som 2012). Both the male and female employees should
be retained by the organizations but there are many de-motivating factors for the organizations in
this industry as well.
There are certain activities that should be implemented in the organizations to gain more
productivity. The employees should take more active responsibility towards the projects and
everyone associated with the projects should understand their responsibilities in a better way.
The salary is one important factor in this context (Terera and Ngirande 2014). The people with
the higher salaries are much comforted and feel to be the parts of the projects while the people
with a lower salary are quite de-motivated. The desire to get the things from the organization and
the things that are achieved in due course are the important motivating factors (Terera and
Ngirande 2014)
The construction industry has been believed to be one industry that has very little
connection with the global economic activity and this leads them to an unstable condition in
many occasions (Harris and McCaffer 2013). There are many tendencies of unstableness in the
activities of the construction management. The experts have sought out various ways to solve
them and influence the productivity in the construction management industry. the business
environment in this industry is multinational and the operations of this industry have to be seen
from a globalized point of view. The construction management depends highly on the
organizational culture where it is not that much relevant in the retail industry as such. The

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technical and managerial ways of arranging the operations have influenced the matters in new
ways. The operations in the construction management industry are quite dynamic in the present
situation (Harris and McCaffer 2013). The ideas and understandings of the people will have to
be managed in this industry because the people should be feeling the same connection with that
of the leaders in the construction management industry. The organizational culture has a major
role to play in the growth of the construction management industry. There are generally three
different types of markets on which the construction management organizational culture depends
on (Harris and McCaffer 2013). These are impact of globalization on construction markets,
dynamic business environments and the uniqueness of the construction management business
industry.
The organizational performance is one of the determining factors in this industry since
the employees in the construction management industry can be very dynamic in its nature. The
organizations must create a proper business framework under which the organizations should
operate (García-Morales, Jiménez-Barrionuevo and Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez 2012). The
organizations in this industry can make strategies by implementing the business framework in
the practical situations. The organizations must be able to implement the effectiveness of the
measurements by applying the organizational culture within the organizations of the construction
management. Organizational performance can be measured by the organizational cultures. The
construction management organizations can be totally different from the retail industry in many
aspects. The leadership methods in this industry have been facing many uphill struggles lately.
The construction industry needs new leadership styles to be invented so that the employees can
be guided in a new way (García-Morales, Jiménez-Barrionuevo and Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez 2012).
The business environment in this industry is quite unstable in the recent times. The authentic

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leadership style should be incorporated within this industry whereas the leadership style followed
in the retail industry is the autocratic leadership style (Wong and Laschinger 2013).
This kind of authentic leadership style has to be adopted in this industry to cope up with
the struggles that are occurring in this industry (Wong and Laschinger 2013). The business
environment is changing very fast and the challenges are increasing day by day. The project
managers in the construction industry should possess extremely prolific leadership styles,
competencies and abilities of their leaders. The moral and ethical practices of this industry had
been going down as a result of the poor practices in this field. The statistics of the records had
been showing that there was a huge slowdown in the profits in this industry. This is a strong
leadership style had to be incurred that could be extremely different from that of the retail
industry. The managers should incorporate effective leadership styles that could be matched with
their coherent styles, personalities and personal traits (Giltinane 2013). The social image of this
industry has been going down so this has to be uplifted. The awareness about this industry has to
be increased and the situations should be such the authentic leadership styles could be
incorporated within their organizational practice.
The employees in the construction industry need more security in their employment
conditions because the job opportunities are very much limited. Therefore, the organizational
culture in this industry should cater for creating more job opportunities (Bhatti et al. 2012). The
rates of employee retention must increase. The job opportunities in the retail industry is quite
high than that of the construction industry. Both the men and women should be provided with the
same opportunities and no distinctions should be made between them. The salary should increase
that should attract the people. In these ways, the construction industry can incur good
organizational culture and leadership traits within its operations. The security in the employment

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should always be there. The organizational culture should have proper mental satisfaction among
the employees and the training processes should be done in a way that the employees should be
able to develop their careers (Malos 2012).
Conclusion
It can be concluded that construction industry is quite different from the retail industry.
The culture of the retail industry has very limited similarity with that of the construction
industry. The organizational culture is a very important aspect in all the organizations and the
industries. The retail industry follows the autocratic leadership style generally. The construction
industry deals with the more authentic style of leadership style as the issues and challenges are
increasing every day. The retail industry has some challenges as well. The organizational culture
in this industry has to be altered in big time as well. The changes that have to be brought in have
been discussed in this context as well. The leadership style and the organizational that would
have to be adopted in this context have been described in this paper and this industry really needs
some good authentic leadership style to be embedded so that this industry can flourish.