Developing Skills for Business Leadership Assessment

This document discusses the skills required for business leadership and the importance of corporate social responsibility. It focuses on Stark Works, an automobile company, and how it is implementing sustainable practices. The document also covers issues related to ethics in the automotive industry and the company's organizational structure.

Developing Skills for
Business Leadership
Assessment ...MBM
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Table of Contents
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4
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Country overview
Stark works company operates in the UK who is made up of England, Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland. In the context of automobile companies and industry in UK, it can be said
that it is now best known for sports and premium cars. In the year of 2018, automobile
manufacture sector in the UK had a turnover of approximate £82 Billion, around 168,000 people
were employed in this industry in the UK (Automotive industry and the UK, 2019). The progress
of UK automotive in sustainable development has been increased. The main key of the success
and development of automotive industry in UK is skilled and trained employees. They are more
aware about sustainability, so they try to produce cars and other industrial instruments in an
efficient manner. For that they implement and make use of some management operational
approaches that helps them out in reducing wastes and improving the quality of manufacturing
process.
On the other hand, this company operates in Australia as well. It wants to provide
qualitative and sustainable services to Australian who have more awareness regarding
sustainable vehicles. It is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian
continent and has several smaller Island. In the context of total area, it is counted as the world's
6th largest country. It is stated about Australia that it has no long term national vision regarding
sustainable development. It is called one of the most carbon intensive economies.
Type of company
Stark works.it is an automobile company who manufacture cars, electric vehicles and
industrial electronic instruments. It designs, develops, manufacture, markets and sells motor
vehicles. This industry is known for generating economy of the country. There is a huge
competition in this industry as people are getting more aware about sustainable motor vehicles. It
puts pressure on this company to reduce waste and focus on effective manufacturing products to
improve quality.
Issues related to ethics
There are several issues related to ethics in automotive industry that puts pressure in this
company to adopt effective strategies to resolve them. Some ethical related issues are: unethical
leadership, ineffective working culture and environment, unrealistic goals etc. The main ethical
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issue that can create several problems and barriers in the path of the success of Stark works
automobile company is unethical leadership.
Unethical leadership: Having a personal issue with manager and leader is other thing
that can be solved out but employing a person or a leader who behave unethically is the biggest
issue (Blair, Helland and Walton, 2017). An unethical leader can manipulate numbers in a report
and spend a lot of money in incorporate activities. So, it can be said that having an unethical
person and leader in an organization can decrease the brand image of the company and can also
become the reason of labor turnover.
Corporate social responsibility and its importance
Corporate social responsibility is an evolving business practices that focus on sustainable
development by giving positive impacts on economy, society and environment in which it
operates (Sukitsch, Engert and Baumgartner, 2015). The main key of the success of the company
is public thinking as what they think about the company. For having great impact on public and
retaining them with the company for the long run, it is important for automotive company to
follow codes of ethics and makes its business more sustainable. In the context of Stark works
automobile company it can be said that it follows some principles of CSR which makes it able to
give less negative impacts on the society and environment. Some principles include: Creativity,
health and safety, suppliers relations, fair competition etc. The first principle which this Stark
works automobile company follows is competition. There is a huge competition in automotive
industry as it has some reasons and drivers such as: Advanced technology, value chain,
globalization and culture. automobile industry is one of them who give several negative impacts
on the society and the environment as they create pollution, resource depletion and higher rates
of some resources (Mohd Fuzi and et.al., 2017).
This company recognizes and believes that environmental responsibility is not only
beneficial for their business as it is beneficial for customers as they focus on the way of
marketing of vehicles and purchasing. For accomplishing this goal, they are now collaborating
with its suppliers for providing effective services to the people and customers of both UK and
Australia. They are providing training to their staff for increasing their ability to maintain rates of
renewable resource harvest, decreasing pollution and make an effective use of non-renewable
resources. The main aim of this company to manufacture or build fuel efficient cars and
industrial machinery. For this purpose, they are now working with their team and suppliers and
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developing innovative approaches that are supporting to this company to cut down on green
house gas emission from its vehicles (Habidin and et.al., 2018). Other main characteristic and
key which help this company in accomplishing its goals in leadership. Leadership style plays an
important role which supports its followers and employees in performing their job role for
managing its business sustainable. Some characteristics and skills which makes a leader
sustainable includes: conviction, courage, collaboration, humility and cleverness. So, it can be
said that in the context of Stark works automobile company and sustainability that leadership,
collaboration and effective culture plays a vital role for accomplishing goals.
Company structure
In the context of company structure it can be said that it plays a vital role as it works as a
guideline and shows the way of performing functions. There are several factors that lead and
reason of the success of the company and an effective culture and structure is one of them
(Cumming, 2016). In other words it can be said that Organization structure is a framework that
managers devise for dividing and coordinating the activities of members of an organization. It
helps in improving relationship among different functional departments of the company. This
automotive company operates in main countries and it is the big company so, it follows
hierarchical organizational structure (Maduenyi and et.al., 2015). It facilitates management
actions, improve communication and encourage efficiency.
6. Stark works is a company that is operating in automobile sector. It is a large firm and is having
business expansion in may countries. The company is having a divisional organisational
structure (Weber and Wasieleski, 2018). They manufacture variety of automobile products like
car, bus, truck, jeep, etc. Furthermore, for each division there is different business function
followed.
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Beside this, the company is having a proper organisation chart that is developed on basis
of structure. In chart the relationship flows from bottom to top. Here, subordinates are
responsible for reporting to manager.
The organisational chart of Stark works in UK and Australia is described below :-
Operations – this department is responsible for managing and performing all activities in Stark
works. they follow specific process or method. There are different functions performed that is
design, allocating resources, providing services, etc. In UK the operational manager is head of
this division.
HR- the role of HR department is to hire and recruit employees. They also manage people in
business and provide training to them. Alongside, HR maintain employee relations and payroll.
In UK the senior HR manager is head of it. Below it, HR supervisor and executives works.
Finance – this department is responsible for managing finance related work. they record all
transactions and develop report. Also, financial performance of company is analysed. In UK
financial manager is head of this division.
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Marketing – the department performs many functions such as promoting and advertising goods.
They do campaign and generate awareness (Wang and Sarkis, 2017). Also, market research is
done by them. The Stark works in UK only have marketing head
R&D – This department does research in market to identify latest technology used. They change
design, features of product, etc. In Stark works there is no R&D manager in UK.
Sales – Here, department role is to generate leads in market and sale products to customers. they
also advertise products and services. Stark works is having many sales executives and
representatives. They report to General manager of company.
Production – in Stark works production department manufacture automobile. They convert raw
material into finished goods. In automobile industry there are many sub division in production.
Similarly, in Stark works assembling, painting, designing, etc.
In Australis there are several departments of company. the organisational chart is as
follows :-
Operations – in that nation as well there is operation manager of Stark works. below that an
operational head works. (Aguinis, and Glavas, 2019)
HR- there is no HR head in HR department in Australia. So, HR executive directly report to
general manager
Finance- In Australia company is having at top CFO (chief financial officer). Below it is
financial manager and at last are accountants.
Marketing – the company is Australia is having marketing manager. furthermore, there is no
sales department in that country. So, marketing executive perform task of sales.
7. It is necessary to company to practice CSR activities. Moreover, a leader characters depict
their personality. This can be depicted from their views on CSR as well. The various characters
are :-
Honesty – the honest of leader shows that they will be positive towards CSR practice.
Decision making – this shows decision making skill of leader. By taking correct and effective
decision on CSR leader views are positive. Thus, a leader will always take positive decision in
regard to CSR.
Accountability- if leader remain accountable to CSR practice it shows their character.
Moreover, the views also is in favour of CSR.
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8. In Stark works there are many stakeholders who are engaged with company. They are divided
into internal and external. They are suppliers, customers, government, society, etc. they play vital
role in decision making of company and developing strategies. (Frynas, and Stephens, 2015)
9. The implementation of change in business enables them to grow and develop. Also, it is
important that change has to properly implemented. This is because there are many barriers that
occur during change. It directly impacts in negative way. Therefore, it is necessary to find those
barriers and overcome them. For this there are some theories and models available which is
described below :-
Kurt lewin model – this model is used to implement change in effective way. there are three
steps involved in it that are as explained as :-
Unfreezing – it is first step where an awareness of change in created. Here, change status quo,
level of acceptability, etc. is analysed (Gond and et.al., 2017). Through this, it becomes easy to
move from comfort to change zone. The communication has to be effective in this.
Changing – in this actual change is implemented. this is done by careful planning and
implementation. Furthermore, individuals are motivated to implement change.
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Refreezing - in this stage people are allowed to move from stable state to change state. Here,
people accept change and work in that way only.
From this model barriers are easily identified and measures are taken to overcome them.
Also, at initial level barriers are identified that gives insight on area in which it occurs. So, on
basis of it strategies are developed. The manager communicate that to all in proper way.
10. There are certain steps followed in campaign:-
Goal – the campaign is done to promote new CSR values by changing behaviour of employees.
It will be beneficial in practicing CSR. (Rupp, and Mallory, 2015)
Engagement of stakeholder- for this employees and BOD are involved in it. The investor will
provide funds for it.
Audience – the target audience is society and employees.
Implementation – the campaign will be implemented through training and on social media.
Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Setting aims and
objective 2 days Tue 12/3/19 Wed 12/4/19
Communication tactics 4 days Thu 12/5/19 Tue 12/10/19 1
Selecting communication
channel 5 days Wed 12/11/19 Tue 12/17/19 2
Defining activities 5 days Wed 12/18/19 Tue 12/24/19 2,3
Funding 7 days Wed 12/25/19 Thu 1/2/20 4
Allocating resources 4 days Fri 1/3/20 Wed 1/8/20 5
Launch of campaign 1 day Thu 1/9/20 Thu 1/9/20 6
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Moreover, the overall cost of campaign will be $5000.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Aguinis, H. and Glavas, A., 2019. On corporate social responsibility, sensemaking, and the
search for meaningfulness through work. Journal of Management, 45(3), pp.1057-1086.
Blair, C.A., Helland, K. and Walton, B., 2017. Leaders behaving badly: The relationship
between narcissism and unethical leadership. Leadership & Organization Development
Journal. 38(2). pp.333-346.
Cumming, G.S., 2016. Heterarchies: reconciling networks and hierarchies. Trends in Ecology &
Evolution. 31(8). pp.622-632.
Frynas, J.G. and Stephens, S., 2015. Political corporate social responsibility: Reviewing theories
and setting new agendas. International Journal of Management Reviews, 17(4), pp.483-
509.
Gond, J.P. and et.al., 2017. The psychological microfoundations of corporate social
responsibility: A person‐centric systematic review. Journal of Organizational
Behavior, 38(2), pp.225-246.
Habidin, N.F. and et.al., 2018. Critical success factors of sustainable manufacturing practices in
Malaysian automotive industry. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering.
11(3). pp.217-222.
Maduenyi, S. and et.al., 2015. Impact of organizational structure on organizational performance.
Mohd Fuzi, N. and et.al., 2017. CSR practices, ISO 26000 and performance among Malaysian
automotive suppliers. Social Responsibility Journal. 13(1). pp.203-220.
Rupp, D.E. and Mallory, D.B., 2015. Corporate social responsibility: Psychological, person-
centric, and progressing. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav., 2(1), pp.211-236.
Sukitsch, M., Engert, S. and Baumgartner, R., 2015. The implementation of corporate
sustainability in the European automotive industry: An analysis of sustainability
reports. Sustainability. 7(9). pp.11504-11531.
Wang, Z. and Sarkis, J., 2017. Corporate social responsibility governance, outcomes, and
financial performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 162, pp.1607-1616.
Weber, J. and Wasieleski, D.M. eds., 2018. Corporate social responsibility. Emerald Group
Publishing.
Online
Automotive industry and the UK. 2019. [Online]. Available
through :<https://www.smmt.co.uk/industry-topics/uk-automotive/>.
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