Contemporary Management Issues in the 21st Century: Lessons from Shackleton's Leadership Style

This report discusses contemporary management issues in the 21st century, including challenges faced by management such as ethics, globalisation, diversity, and technology. It draws on a case study of Ernest Shackleton and his leadership style during the Epic Voyage of Endurance. The report characterises Shackleton's leadership style, identifies important lessons, and evaluates the organisational situation of Unilever by drawing on schools of leadership. Recommendations for improvement are also provided.

Contemporary
Management Issues in
the 21st Century

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Characterise the Shackleton's leadership style and identify important lessons in given article. 1
In relation to a business critically analyse and evaluate the organisational situation by drawing
on schools of the leadership.......................................................................................................2
Recommendation for the improvement.......................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
References:.......................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
In 21st century, within business organisations, management consist of several issues that
prevent the leaders and managers from attaining their objectives and improving their
organisational work. Therefore, manager continuously try to tackle or manage this issues which
drive towards lowering the productivity. Challenges faced by the management mainly include
ethics, globalisation, diversity, technology and many more. To cope up with these issues,
organisations adopt effective leadership style (Ferreira and et. al., 2021). This report will be
based on a case study of Ernest Shackleton and Epic Voyage of Endurance by Nancy F. Koehn.
Hence, this report mainly cover the characteristic of Shackleton's leadership style, lessons fro
this case study and evaluation of the organisation situation by drawing on leadership along with
certain recommendations.
Characterise the Shackleton's leadership style and identify important lessons in given article.
Case study of Shackleton's Endurance expedition is very familiar with many people and
a sources of the inspirations as well. Main goal of Shackleton is to led firstly over crossing of
Antarctica Continent.
 Shackleton was most cautious leader who never ask his subordinates or members to do
anything and he would not do himself. Shackleton was also very good at the
improvisation. Shackleton can be characterised as proactive and decisive.
 When a need arose, the Shackleton had demonstrated considerable decisiveness as a
group leader. He was not, noted for practice to empower his men with the opportunities
for raking any initiative. Weight of the leadership frequently sat more heavy on him and
according to Shackleton “ loneliness is penalty of the leadership.
 Shackleton was both visionary leader with a clear vision for his expedition and hand on
leader which was willing to do whatever needed implementing in order to ensure safety.
He anticipate the challenges and then has effective plans so that he can handle the
situation well.
 Being a proactive leader he inspire all the members to perform well to overcome the
critical situation (Wamba, and et. al., 2021). By this case study it is analysed that
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Shackleton was very enthusiastic and hard working. He communicate his vision to their
subordinate was much more likely to had a strong and dedicated members.
 Shackleton was effectively skilled on both management and leadership. He maintained
formalities and protocol throughout; for instance youngest member of crew was to be
first to step onto Elephant Island, as a tradition dictated.
Important lessons which can be learn from given article
In given case study there is one chock full of the leadership lesson for nowadays business
leaders. Certain of the lesson are honed from the Shackleton's leadership. These lesson are
discussed below:
 Diverse team- The Shackleton had built a cohesive multinational team of many members
for instance. he asked Reginald James to sung, and it was basis of this selection. There
were mainly two Surgeons a photographer, Navigator, Seaman, Artist Cook and
Carpenter. This team Shackleton had put fit “like a puzzle.' according to Graham, great
leader never seek out the “carbon copies of themselves as they look for the
complementary pieces.” key lesson is people should have a diverse team of character and
talent with the traits which do not resemble members (Guo and et. al., 2021).
 Diffuse the conflicts immediately- It is essential to create a mutual respect that came
from insisting on a common courtesy, even if there is any extreme condition when this
might have not seemed necessary (Nugmanovna, 2021). For instance, there were various
conflicts, but crew had managed to maintain a sense of the civility. The Shackleton had
reminded the crew on more than one occasion that only a little thanks can go a long ways.
 Be Decisive- Shackleton had stuck when making his decisions. There was nit any
waffling. Plainly put, “ when member decide to get off the breaking ice flow, they can
not turn back.” yet the Shackleton had adjusted his goal many times from one island to
the other island. His men or members were aware about that Shackleton could be counted
on. Hence, according to Graham's “ when leader lead, be decisive. Their folks are
counting on them.'
In relation to a business critically analyse and evaluate the organisational situation by drawing on
schools of the leadership.
There are various contemporary management issued issues are analysed in 21st century
including employees turnover, poor work team, inadequate support, pressure to perform any task,
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decreased performance level and many more (Osei-Kyei and et. al., 2021). For instance Unilever
is a British multinational consumer goods company that provide consumer goods to people. In
this, its management issues is poor organisational culture, weak leadership, low, low motivation
and lack of a proper training. Therefore it hinder the overall performance of respective company
in this dynamic world. Its management take all the decision without consulting with their
employees as company hold a power culture. It is analysed in context of the organisational
situation, Unilever has announced few changes to its organisational model in order to make its
business more simple and category focused (Shevsky, 2022).It will move away from their
current matrix structure and then will be organised around five different business group
including personal care, Ice cream, Beauty and Well-being, nutrition and home care. Each of its
business group will be completely accountable and responsible for their growth, strategy and
profit delivery globally.
To enable the Unilever to benefit from company's scale and global capabilities, these five
business groups are assumed to be supported by the Unilever business operation as it will
provide system, technology and process in order to drive the operational excellence entire the
business (Singh and et. al., 2021).
Hence, Unilever is making few changes to its leadership team.
 President North America and Fabian Garcia has been appointed as a president personal
care, obligated for the skin cleansing and oral care.
 Peter ter Kulve continue his role as a President for home care business, responsible for
home ad hygiene, fabric care and water and air.
 Matt close, EVP Ice Cream, has been nominated president Ice Cream business group.
 EVP Latin America and Fernando has been nominated as president for the beauty and
well being, that include skin care, hair care as well as minerals, vitamins and
supplements.
 Hanneke Faber, President food and refreshment are appointed as president nutrition, that
will be home to scratch cooking, functional nutrition, healthy snacking, food solution and
plant based meat
Recommendation for the improvement
From the above analysis, it is recommended that management of Unilever must modify
their leadership style and organisational culture so that respective company become able to
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mitigate such barriers which bring down their profitability as well as productivity. As Shackleton
is proactive and decisive leader who know that how to manage his man's potential to attain their
goals. By this leadership, Unilever is less likely to get caught off guard, that can aid in mitigating
perils and turn changes into the opportunities rather than any challenges. It will save the
resources and time of the respective organisation. If there is decisiveness at workplace, then
Unilever will become able to execute its plans effectively. By the company become able to
balance the continuing cost to gather the information, deliberate and delay the decision versus
cost of making a poor choice. Along with this, it is also recommended to Unilever that it must
modify its organisational culture as by giving more opportunities and autonomy to employees for
taking part in decision making that enable them to bring forward their ideas and make an
effective plan to to perform a task in more systematic manner. Thus, it will also motivate the
employees to engage more in organisational activities for their own well being as well as
organisation.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report report it is concluded that in today's dynamic world, business
organisation are facing various contemporary issues including improper training, lack of
motivation, ineffective leadership, employees turnover and many more. Therefore the
organisational management should learn some lesson from the Shackleton's leadership style as it
is most effective leadership. Its greatest strength is that it make enable the leader to inspire others
for sharing a vision. By using this leadership style companies like Unilever can boost morale of
its employees and inspire them to adopt the changes or new technology in organisation which
will enhance their productivity. Therefore, it is recommended that organisations should modify
the organisational culture and be proactive leader in order to gain their gaols by performance
effectively or efficiently.
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References:
Books and Journals
Ferreira, M.T. and et. al., 2021. New data about the 21st century identified skeletal collection
(University of Coimbra, Portugal). International Journal of Legal Medicine, 135(3),
pp.1087-1094.
Guo, J. and et. al., 2021. Urban development and sustainability challenges chronicled by a
century of construction material flows and stocks in Tiexi, China. Journal of Industrial
Ecology, 25(1), pp.162-175.
Nugmanovna, M.A., 2021. Action strategy-the basis of a new stage of national development of
Uzbekistan. Academicia: an International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 11(1),
pp.774-785.
Osei-Kyei, R. and et. al., 2021. Critical review of the threats affecting the building of critical
infrastructure resilience. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 60,
p.102316.
Shevsky, D., 2022. Euromaidan revolution in Ukraine. In Handbook of Revolutions in the 21st
Century (pp. 851-863). Springer, Cham.
Singh, B.P. and et. al., 2021. Bioactive peptides in the management of lifestyle-related diseases:
Current trends and future perspectives. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition,
pp.1-14.
Wamba, S.F. and et. al., 2021. Are we preparing for a good AI society? A bibliometric review
and research agenda. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 164, p.120482.
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