Leadership Style and Motivation Theory of Debenhams: Doc

Context of business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
Impact of macro environment on current situation.....................................................................1
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................3
Leadership style of Debenhams and its relevance on their current situation..............................3
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................5
Motivation theory........................................................................................................................5
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations for Improvement...........................................................................................6
TASK 5 ...........................................................................................................................................7
Reflection Report........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business is defined as any organisation or enterprise which is engaged in industrial,
commercial or any professional activities. Business represent organized efforts and activities of
individual to produce or sell any goods or services for earning profit. Debenhams is one of the
largest and oldest departmental store of United Kingdom and having its branches in many major
cities and parts of UK. It was incorporated as a drapers store in early 1778 at 44 Wigmore Street
in London. This assignment includes impact of macro environment and a research on leadership
style to analysis its relevance in current situation. Motivation theory and recommendations are
also included in this project.
TASK 1
Impact of macro environment on current situation
Debenhams is considered as one of the largest and most recognisable British brand which
was incorporated in 1778 as a drapers store but through a series of acquisitions and mergers it
become one of the largest departmental store group of UK. It has also expanded in other parts of
world and currently operating in around 66 countries (Debenhams, 2019). But recently this
organisation is facing issues for its survival. This can be due to some drastic change in its macro
environment. For analysis of impact of macro environment on its current situation use of
PESTAL analysis is made by Debenhams.
PESTEL analysis
It provide a framework to analysis and monitor the macro environment or external factors
that have significant impact on operations and success of an organisation (Oldman and Tomkins,
2018).
Political- This included factors related with political atmosphere of a country like trade
relations, government attitude and polices towards business, etc. Political conditions of UK is
mostly stable but in recent year Brexit issue has created negative impact on most of the business
thus, sales and profitability of Debenhams is also decreasing. It is also facing systematic risks of
operating in many countries of world as this expose it to different type of political environment
(Debenhams SWOT & PESTEL Analysis, 2019).
Economical- This factors include a combination of prevailing inflation rate, saving rate,
interest rate, foreign exchange rate and aggregate of demand and investment in an economy.
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Recent fluctuation in economy and currency of UK is creating a negative impact on growth and
expansion plan of Debenhams. Insatiability and financial crisis faced by UK due to Brexit and
other issues is badly affecting sales of Debenhams thus, it is facing value dropped by 95% and
fighting for its survival. Higher rates of interest has also increased the cost and lease liability of
Debenhams.
Social- Prevailing fashion trends, culture and habits of society also have impact on
functioning and operations of business organisation. Society of UK is very dynamic thus, its
fashion trends keeps on changing, but Debenhams company failed in keeping a touch with this
continuously changing business environment and social trends which leads to its downfall in
recent years. Frequent discount sale approach of Debenhams motivates its customers to hold off
their buying till the discount is on which also hampers its sales rate (Janiesch and Kuhlenkamp,
2018).
Technological- Technology of UK is transforming and updating in a really fast way thus
it become necessary to all organisation to focus more on technological development.
Technological advancement and development require huge amount to finance to buy or
implement new techniques but in recent years financial conditions of Debenhams is not good
thus, it become difficult to cope up with rapid technological advancement.
Environmental- It includes the different norms and environmental standards set by
government or society of a country. People and government of UK are becoming more concern
about environment thus, many laws and norms for regulating environment pollution are made
which is creating pressure on Debenhams to make use of of sustainable practices and efficient
sources of energy which are quite expensive.
Legal- This factors includes all the legal laws and acts made by government authorities
for protection of labours, employees and society. The minimum wage rate act and employment
act of UK has increased the cost and expenses of Debenhams as they have to provide high salary
and better incentives to its workforce (Torres and Sidorova, 2019).
Thus, it can be analysed that rapid change and insatiability in the macro environment of
Debenhams has created many issues for its growth and lead to a downfall in performance of
Debenhams.
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TASK 2
Leadership style of Debenhams and its relevance on their current situation
Leadership styles provides a manner and approach to direct and motivate people or
individuals of an organisation to increase their efficiency and performance. It includes all explicit
and implicit actions performed by any leader to guide and prompt its employees for timely
achievement of targets and objectives. The culture and leadership style of Debenhams includes
caring, sharing and encouragement to motivate employees thus, provides a friendly atmosphere
to its workforce treated them as a valuable assets of organisation. Democratic leadership style is
used by Debenhams to provide a positive atmosphere to its employees to enhance their
performance and creativity (A leadership lesson from Debenhams, 2019).
Research on Debenhams leadership style
Democratic Leadership style- This style is totally based on the principles of democracy
where equal rights are provided to all and employees are also having shared power in decision
making process. It emphasizes more on collaborations and allow free flow of ideas which
promotes or encourage creativity. Provide a mutual respect and open conversions between leader
and staff thus leader can provide or offer proper guidance and discussion to keep things balanced
and in control. Debenhams is having following advantage and disadvantage of democratic
leadership style:
Advantage Disadvantage
 Provides a culture of norms, value
and beliefs and create a healthy and
friendly atmosphere at workplace.
 Equal participation of employee in
decision making process has
improved their performance and
morale which makes them feel happy
(Sheng and Lan, 2019).
 Provides diversity of ides and
promotes a creative environment.
 It had developed better relations and
 As large number of people are involved in
decision making thus, it had slow down
the decision making process therefore,
hindering the performance of Debenhams.
 At the time of crisis and emergency
leaders does not feel confident in taking
any decisions without having any
discussion.
 Decisions made on the basis of opinion of
inexperienced staff may lack expertise
and they do not have much skills to take
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bonding between leaders, managers
and employees.
effective decisions for whole
organisation.
Relevance of Democratic leadership style in current situation of Debenhams
Debenhams is one of the largest departmental chain of UK from many years because of
its democratic leadership style which has created an encouraging and friendly atmosphere at
workspace thus, providing job satisfaction and internal motivation to its employees. But in recent
years the performance of Debenhams is decreasing and its value is dropped by 95% thus, it is
fighting for its survival (Verstraete and Kremer, 2018). The main reason behind this downfall is
use of democratic leadership style which had led to slow decision making process and lack of
expertise in making effective decisions which are mainly based on the opinions of inexperienced
and unskilled leaders and staff. The most critical errors in decision making of Debenhams
includes:
 Failure in prediction of change in fashion trends because of diversity in ideas and
opinion of team members.
 More focus is on development and expansion of branches without proper analysis of
market tends and situation which has led to failure of many projects like Birmingham
store in Bull ring.
 Expansion plans and reduction in sales and profitability has increased dependency of
Debenhams on loan and lease of property thus lead to increase in debt cost and other
liabilities (James and Casidy, 2018).
The main reason behind all the crises is lack of an effective leadership style which has
created a friendly atmosphere but the extra freedom provided to employees has reduced their
efficiency and performance. It has slow down and reduced the decision making power of leaders
and created diversity of views which leads to inefficient decision making.
It can be said that democratic leadership style is useful in providing a motivated
atmosphere and better communication and relationship between managers and employees. Thus,
it can be relevant to properly guide and direct the employees to meet the adverse situation. But
Debenhams should try to provide less freedom to its employees to make them more effective and
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productive. Use of incentives and rewards and incentives can be made to motivate employees for
better performance.
TASK 3
Motivation theory
Debenhams is going through an adverse situation where it is facing continuous downfall
in its profit and share value, thus employees of Debenhams are also felling demotivated which is
hampering their performance and productivity. To regain its strengths and to compete with its
rapid changes in its macro environment it become necessary for leaders of Debenhams to make
use of a motivation theory to motivate their employees to handle and cope up with this negative
situation. Motivation theory provide a process to direct or encourage a human behaviour towards
achievement of desired goals and objective and improve the performance and productivity of
employees (Worthington, 2018). Two factors theory is suggested to Debenhams to motivate its
employees for achieving objective of better profits and growth.
Herzberg's motivation theory
This theory sates that there are various factors in the workplace out of which certain
create satisfaction among employees while some creates dissatisfaction among the employees.
Frederick Herzberg's has groped all these factors into two main categories which are explained
below:
Motivation factors- These are the factors which encourage an employee to work harder
and are found within actual job itself. These factors include intrinsic motivators which are less
tangible and fulfil emotional needs of an employee which creates internal motivation to perform
better. The different factors included in motivator factors are better achievements, recognition,
personal growth and development opportunity, etc. Debenhams can make use of motivation
factors through providing more job responsibility and timely recognitions to its employee. Better
growth opportunity and job role should also be offered to efficient employees. This will provide
an internal motivation and better job satisfaction to employees of Debenhams which will compel
them for improvement in their performance to get recognition and better job profile which will
improve the overall performance and probability of Debenhams (Kopnina and Blewitt, 2018).
Hygiene factors- It includes most basic and fundamental needs of human which are
necessary to feel comfortable at workplace and also reduce the job dissatisfaction. It include
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factors like working conditions, co-workers relations, policies and rules of organisation,
supervisor quality, salary and wages of an employees. Debenhams should provide all the basic
hygiene factors to its employees to reduce the amount of job dissatisfaction which will provide a
more positive and motivated atmosphere to employees of Debenhams. This positive atmosphere
will improve the performance of employees and makes them more motivated and directed
towards achievement of organisational goal.
Justification for choice of motivation theory
Two factor theory of Herzberg's is most suitable for Debenhams as it provide a proper
balance between intrinsic (motivator factors) and extrinsic ( hygiene factors) which are essential
to provide the job satisfaction and to improve the performance of employees. As financial
conditions of Debenhams are not good so it cannot make use of much incentives and rewards but
can provide better job responsibility and recognition to employees to provide internal motivation
to work harder for better job roles and promotions. Under this theory money is treated secondary
and more focus is on job promotions and relationships as these provide better motivation to
employees for long time period, it is most relevant theory for Debenhams to motivate its
employee to tackle adverse situation and to improve its financial performance (Tratnik, Urh and
Jereb, 2019).
TASK 4
Recommendations for Improvement
To tackle and cope up with the adverse financial conditions and other issues which had
lea to downfall of Debenhams following recommendations can be made:
 Use of democratic leadership style has created a problem of slow and ineffective decision
making and also lead to diversity in views and opinion thus, use of autocratic leadership
style is recommend to improve the decision making process and to provide more powers
to leaders to properly implement and execute a decision for betterment of organisation.
 Before expansion of its operations and opening a new branch at any location it is
recommended that proper market analysis should be conducted by Debenhams to analysis
the current market trends and circumstances which will ensure the success of project thus,
improve the profitability of this organisation.
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 This organisation is needed to focus on its products and try to get in touch with rapidly
changing fashion trends which is only possible through timely market research which is
helpful in predicting the change in the fashion trends. Only those products and
accessories should be offered by Debenhams which is liked and preferred by customers
to attract more consumers for its product.
 Use of new technology and better techniques is also recommended to gain more
competitive advantage which will improve its productivity and profitability.
TASK 5
Reflection Report
Research is a systematic investigation or study of materials and source to analysis certain
facts and helps in reaching an authentic conclusion. This research on leadership styles and
downfall of Debenhams has provided many benefits. I have got knowledge about different
factors of a leadership style and how it influences or effects decision making process. I have
learnt that democratic leadership style provides better relationship and healthy atmosphere at
workplace but it slow down the decision making process. I have also understood the importance
of motivation theory in achieving the desired goals and objectives. This research has also
improved my communication and time management skills through creating pressure on me for
timely completion of work. For completion this research many methods are used by me and for
gathering authentic data I have searched and analysed the official website of Debenhams. Many
other online websites and documents are also evaluated by me to get better understanding of
reason of downfall of Debenhams.
While conducting this research many issues are also faced by me like lack of resource
and needed data but these problems are timely addressed by me. The communication and
interaction with employees of Debenhams is also very good and we performed as a team for
timely completion of this research. Thus, it can be said that this research is very beneficial for me
as it has improved my knowledge and skills and also ensure better future opportunity.
CONCLUSION
From this assignment it can be concluded that, macro environment creates a significant
effect on success and operations of business. Use of PESTEL analysis is made to evaluate the
external factors of an organisation. Leadership styles plays an important role in guiding and
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directing an employees and also have significant effect on decisions making process. Democratic
leadership style is useful in creating positive atmosphere at workplace but hinder the decision
making process. Use of motivation theory is made to motivate or improve the performance of
employees for achievement of targets and goals. Timely market research and improvement in
technology is necessary to ensure success and growth of an organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Duarte Alonso, A. and Kok, S., 2019. Dynamic capabilities in the context of Brexit and
international wine business: An exploratory two‐country study. Thunderbird
International Business Review. 61(2). pp.277-290.
James, L. T. and Casidy, R., 2018. Authentic assessment in business education: its effects on
student satisfaction and promoting behaviour. Studies in higher education. 43(3).
pp.401-415.
Janiesch, C. and Kuhlenkamp, J., 2018. Enhancing business process execution with a context
engine. Business Process Management Journal.
Kopnina, H. and Blewitt, J., 2018. Sustainable business: Key issues. Routledge.
Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W., 2018. CRM Issues in the Business-To-Business Context.
In Customer Relationship Management (pp. 265-283). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Oldman, A. and Tomkins, C., 2018. Cost management and its interplay with business strategy
and context. Routledge.
Sheng, J. and Lan, H., 2019. Business failure and mass media: An analysis of media exposure in
the context of delisting event. Journal of Business Research. 97. pp.316-323.
Torres, R. and Sidorova, A., 2019. Reconceptualizing information quality as effective use in the
context of business intelligence and analytics. International Journal of Information
Management. 49. pp.316-329.
Tratnik, A., Urh, M. and Jereb, E., 2019. Student satisfaction with an online and a face-to-face
Business English course in a higher education context. Innovations in Education and
Teaching International. 56(1). pp.36-45.
Verstraete, T. and Kremer, F., 2018. Using cinema in a pedagogical context to understand the
importance of conventions in designing a business model. Revue de
l’Entrepreneuriat. 17(2). pp.63-89.
Vos, E. and Oberholzer, N., 2018, July. An Analysis of the Status of CSR Practice in the South
African Business Context: A Framework for Analysis. In International Conference on
Applied Economics (pp. 1-13). Springer, Cham.
Worthington, I., 2018. The demographic, social and cultural context of business. The Business
Environment, p.135.
Online
A leadership lesson from Debenhams . 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.hrzone.com/community-voice/blogs/timtaylor/a-leadership-lesson-from-
debenhams-how-to-buck-the-retail-trend>.
Debenhams SWOT & PESTEL Analysis. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.swotandpestle.com/debenhams/>.
Debenhams. 2019. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.debenhams.com/>.
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