Kingfisher Plc Business Report

This report analyzes the business practices of Kingfisher Plc, a British multinational home improvement retailer. It examines the company's leadership style, management practices, and strategies for employee motivation and decision-making. The report also includes a literature review and recommendations for improvement. Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students.

Context of Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Company Background.................................................................................................................2
Rationale.....................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review........................................................................................................................3
Analysis.......................................................................................................................................5
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
An organisation or economic system which is dealing is some goods or services and
selling them to other parties with the motive of earning profit is termed as business. The
following assignment is based on Kingfisher Plc Company which is a British Multinational
Company founded in the year 1982 and is headquartered in London (Bell, Bryman and Harley,
2018). The assignment will provide a brief history and rationale of the company chosen. Further
in this assignment the discussion will be about the leadership style, management practises and
strategies used by the company in order to get the work done from their employees in an efficient
and effective manner. In addition to this, it will also focus on how the company had implemented
those styles, practises and strategies in their working. The recommendations regarding the use of
better leadership style, management practises and strategies will also be provided in the
assignment.
MAIN BODY
Company Background
Kingfisher is a British Multinational Company which is established in the year 1982 and
is headquartered in London. The company was firstly named as Paternoster Stores Ltd. After that
in the year 1983, the name was changed to Woolworth Holdings Plc. At last, in the year 1989,
the company was given the name Kingfisher Plc. The company is providing home improvement
products such as home appliances, tools, home furnishing, hardware and garden supplies and
plants to their customers. The net income of the company in the year 2018 was £ 485 million and
the number of employees which the company has currently employed is approx. 79,000.
Rationale
The reason behind choosing this company suitable for the successful completion of this
assignment is because of several reasons. The first is because of presence as the company is
operating at international level and is operating in ten countries across Europe, over 1300 stores.
Another reason is because the company is the largest home improvement retailer in Europe and
the third largest retailer in the world so good and deep information about the company could be
acquired. It will be a different thing to explore about the processes of this company.
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Literature Review
Vision
“To be the most sought-after contractor for difficult projects in which meeting the
challenges of execution, safety, and schedule set us apart from our competition.”
Leadership Style
According to Martin, Leadership can be defined as the power by which an individual can
influence the behaviour and work of others for achieving specific goals and objectives.
Leadership Style which is adopted by Kingfisher Plc Company is Democratic Leadership Style.
Under this leadership style which is also known as Participative Leadership Style in which the
leader encourages the involvement of their juniors in the decision making process of the
company so that new suggestions could help in growth and development of the company
(Oldman and Tomkins, 2018). Further it is also helpful as the morale and dedication of
employees could be enhanced with this leadership style.
The adoption of this leadership style will also help the company in reducing the rate of
their employee turnover. As the employees are given preference in any company they feel
empowered through leadership development. The employees of Kingfisher Plc Company are
made are provided with their own separate responsibilities and they are also made accountable
for the results they are providing from their work.
Management Style
According to Sammi Caramela, Management can be defined as the art by which the tasks
are completed from employees in an efficient and effective way. The company is also making
use of Democratic Management Style by providing their employees with an opportunity to get
involved in the process of decision making. It means all the decisions are made on the basis of
majority of suggestions provided by the employees.
The managers of Kingfisher Plc are encouraging their employees to participate in the
decision making process of the company. It is effective management style as the communication
process in the company goes from the managers to employees and from employees to the
managers also (Nissenbaum, 2018). Under complex situations, this leadership style is most
effective as more suggestions will result in a variety of outcomes. Various aspects whether
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positive or negative will come into light and the most suitable decision will be taken in the
interest of Kingfisher.
Strategies Used by Kingfisher Company
According to Ashley Donohoe, Employee Motivation can be defined as the engagement
and dedication level of an employee towards the job provided. The motivation regarding good
job performance can be intrinsic or extrinsic so it is important for the companies to provide their
analyse the ways by which the company could motivate their employees in order to get the best
possible performance from their work. After analysing the motivation factor, the company has to
choose the factor by which it can motivate employees such as monetary or non monetary.
Monetary covers incentives in the form of cash and Non Monetary covers incentives in the form
of Rewards. These help in increasing the morale of employees and also keep them happy at the
workplace.
Groups refers to those individuals who coordinate their individual efforts for the
completion of their tasks. Team can be defined as the group of people the purpose of whose
working is same and coordinates the work of each other. In an organisation coordination is very
essential in the team or group formed. Mainly the groups and teams are formed in order to make
possible the completion of a project carried over in the company. The purpose of that task or
project will be challenging or specific so that every member could contribute towards getting
success in the project carried over by the team (Bidault and et. al., 2018).
Decision Making is another crucial part of a company which it must make by taking into
consideration all the aspects which could impact on the working of the organisation. It is a type
of participatory process in which multiple individuals acting collectively, analyse the problems,
or situations and select the best alternatives among them. In organisations many decisions are
made after some form of group decision making. Decisions play an important role as they helps
in determining both organisational and managerial activities. In companies such as Kingfisher
and many more, decision making is a continuous process which helps in managing the activities
of the business in a smooth manner. Further good decision making also contributes towards the
growth and development of the company. Decisions are made at every level of the organisations.
Further, the decisions are make up one of core functional values that every organisation adopts
and implements to ensure optimum growth and drivability in terms of services and products
offered by them (Mendling and et. al., 2018).
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Analysis
In the company's working, it has adopted Democratic Leadership Style depending upon
the nature and structure of the organisation. The company has also proved about the
effectiveness of this leadership style which is clear from its growth, development and success.
The leadership style used by the companies depends upon circumstances which the company is
confronting. Mostly the use of Democratic Leadership style by providing the employees
sufficient authority to complete their tasks as there does not need to ask everything from their
seniors. The leadership style has been adopted by the company in its working by getting certain
successful results from the work of their employees. For example, in the day to day activities of
the employees they are not required to ask from their seniors about their work unless some
complex situation arises (Clarke, 2018). As such with the expansion of business, the company is
hiring local people of that area where it is expanding its business. It is done with a view to know
about the market and culture of that area or country by making involvement of local people in
the decision making process so that their morale could be increased and the company could also
fulfil their purpose.
The Management Style adopted by the company is also suitable as Democratic
Management Style in which the suggestions provided by the employees are encouraged. For
example, during the implementation of some policies in the company such as related to the
appraisal of employees of the company so the managers could ask and consult from their
employees regarding the best way by which the policy could be implemented (James and Casidy,
2018). In addition to this, it also provides certain points which may not come into his mind but
the suggestions provided by employees may prove to be right and help the company in making
needed rectifications in the policies.
Decision Making Process is a very crucial decision made by an company so it needs to be
taken very carefully. It depends upon the leader of Kingfisher Plc to make choice of the role that
how to w0ork in the ream or group whether as a leader or the member of the team. It is necessary
for the company to provide sufficient authority and responsibility to their employees for which
they could be made liable and accountable (Hamilton and Webster, 2018). This will help the
upper level management to look over other issues of the company so that the speed of growth
and development of the company could be increased. Good contribution made by the company
by increasing the employee engagement in the decision making process.
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The company is also motivating their employees in different ways by which it become
possible for the company to get positive results from their work. SIP Plan is one among the
initiative taken by the company in order to motivate their employees and also keep them engaged
in the company The following plan is designed to promote employees share ownership in the
company. Under this plan, the employees are provided to make monthly investments in the
shares of the company. It is another source of income and motivation for the employees as they
will get dividend for the shares purchased or amount invested by them in the company. In this
way, the following is a helpful and good way for the company to motivate their employees and
keeping them engaged in the company (Gonzalez and et .al., 2018).
Recommendations
It is recommended to Kingfisher Plc to ensure the accountability of their employees in
relation to tasks provided to them. As the company is providing sufficient authorities to their
employees so to reduce errors from their work it is also necessary to make them liable for the
outcomes received from their work. It is also recommended to the company to make use of
Performance metrics also in order to increase the morale of their employees along with the SIP
Incentive Plan. The incentives could be provided to them on the basis of their monthly and
weekly performances. In addition to this, it is also recommended to Kingfisher Plc to focus on
making improvement in the team work and coordination of their employees by providing them
tasks in groups as more as possible. This will help Kingfisher Plc in getting good results from the
performance of their employees and it will also help in establishing good relation and mutual
understanding among the employees of the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has been concluded that it is very essential for the
companies to know about the nature of their employees so that in accordance with them the
leadership and management style could be adopted. Further it is also concluded that management
and leadership styles should also be changes in accordance with the circumstances. The nature of
every individual is different from one another, so it is concluded that the company must find out
the way by which employees could be best motivated for taking the best outcome from their
work.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bell, E., Bryman, A. and Harley, B., 2018. Business research methods. Oxford university press.
Bidault, F. and et. al., 2018. Willingness to rely on trust in global business collaborations:
Context vs. demography. Journal of World Business. 53(3). pp.373-391.
Clarke, M., 2018. Rethinking graduate employability: The role of capital, individual attributes
and context. Studies in Higher Education. 43(11). pp.1923-1937.
Gonzalez, L. M. V. and et .al., 2018. Data view based on context. U.S. Patent Application
10/027,632.
Hamilton, L. and Webster, P., 2018. The international business environment. Oxford University
Press.
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.
Mendling, J. and et. al., 2018. Blockchains for business process management-challenges and
opportunities. ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS). 9(1).
p.4.
Nissenbaum, H., 2018. Respecting context to protect privacy: Why meaning matters. Science
and engineering ethics. 24(3). pp.831-852.
Oldman, A. and Tomkins, C., 2018. Cost management and its interplay with business strategy
and context. Routledge.
Teagarden, M. B., Von Glinow, M. A. and Mellahi, K., 2018. Contextualizing international
business research: Enhancing rigor and relevance. Journal of World Business. 53(3).
pp.303-306.
Online
Caramela, S. 2018. The Management Theory of Peter Drucker. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.business.com/articles/management-theory-of-peter-drucker/>
Donohoe, A. 2018. What Is the Definition of Employee Motivation?. [Online]. Available
Through: <https://bizfluent.com/about-5387352-definition-employee-motivation.html>
Martin. 2017. Leadership 101: Definition, Traits, Styles and More. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.cleverism.com/leadership-101-definition-traits-styles/>
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