Leading and Managing Business Organisations

This report discusses the importance of managing diversities in business organisations and the challenges faced by Sainsbury's. It also explains why scientific management theories are still relevant in some organisations. The report highlights the benefits of having a diverse workforce, such as innovation, better understanding of customers, and problem-solving skills. It also mentions the challenges faced by Sainsbury's in managing a diverse workforce, such as communication issues and cultural misunderstandings. Additionally, the report explains why scientific management theories are still in use and their advantages, such as enhanced production and better control.

Leading and Managing
Business organisations

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Why it is important for business organisations to manage diversities among their staff ?..........1
Some challenges which Sainsbury's would face to manage the diversity among their
employees....................................................................................................................................2
Why Scientific Management theories still not phased out entirely from the operations of some
organisations................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business organisation is an entity which is formed to carry business activities. These
organisations need effective management and leadership to increase or maintain their
performance. A leader in a business organisation come up with new ideas to achieve the
organisational goals and leaders push employees to do their best for the organisation. Managers
on the other hand maintain what is already established (Sims, 2018). They perform various
functions like planning, organising, staffing and controlling. The report will discuss why
organisations need to manage diversity in their workforce and what challenges a organisation
face to manage diverse staff.
MAIN BODY
Why it is important for business organisations to manage diversities among their staff ?
A workforce including people from different background, race, ethnicity and other
demographics can be referred as a diversified workforce. Business organisations are going global
nowadays and global market place is constantly changing. If business organisations diversify
their workforce they can get a competitive advantage in the market. Various importance of
diverse workforce are mentioned below -
Different perspectives and innovation
A diverse workforce mean having employees from different backgrounds and characteristics,
these individuals are more likely to have different experiences and abilities which can help a
organisation to reach its potential. Different experiences of individuals allow them to think about
a situation from different perspectives (Fong, 2021). When different people with different
perspectives think for a solution they come up with innovative ideas which can help
organisations to gain a competitive advantage in the industry.
Increased employee retention
When a organisation operate with a diverse workforce they allow employees to put their point of
view, which make employees feel more valued in the organisation. When employees feel
accepted, valued and motivated they do not seek to change jobs if a new opportunity rise in front
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of them. Therefore diversity in workforce can increase the employee retention rate in an
organisation.
Better organisation reputation
When organisations hire a diverse workforce they demonstrate that they are not bias in hiring
and they help every society by providing employment opportunities to them. Organisations with
diverse workforce can engage more peoples. The
Better understanding of customers
Businesses with a diverse workforce can understand its customers better, a business serve to a
diverse customer base and that's why having a diverse workforce can help them to understand the
behaviour of diverse customers. Employees who follow a particular culture or religion can
understand customers with same culture and religion easily.
Problem solving and decision making
When organisations have a diverse workforce they also have diverse views and solutions on the
table. A diverse team can think of creative and innovative solutions which can improve
organisations problem solving skill. A team with diverse individuals is a effective team which is
important for the organisations.
Promotes Individuality
Diversity in workplace promote individuals to grow in an organisation, diverse employees bring
variety of perspectives which can increase organisations productivity. Thus organisations
acknowledge every individual who can contribute with different ideas and solutions.
Some challenges which Sainsbury's would face to manage the diversity among their employees
Managing a diverse workforce is not a easy task because a business organisation face
many challenges managing diverse employees. Having a diverse workforce can help
organisations in many ways can that's why businesses hire diverse employees despite of knowing
that there are many challenges they may face. Sainsbury's is one of the largest supermarket chain
in United Kingdom and they hire a diverse workforce to gain a competitive advantage in the
industry. Some challenges that the company would face to manage the diversity among their
employees are as follows -
Communication Issues – Managing a diverse team is challenging because there are many
communications barriers which can create misunderstandings and issues in a team. If Sainsbury's
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hire a employees who do not understand or speak English then it would be hard for the company
to communicate with that employee. People from different culture have different communication
style and preferences which can also create misunderstanding among the teams.
Cultural Misunderstanding – Diversity in workplace bring people from different backgrounds
and cultures together. A gesture which is normal in some culture can be offensive in others. For
example giving a thumbs up and patting some one's back are not normal in some cultures. When
diverse employees work together these little differences can become big misunderstanding
(Limón, 2020). This can create a negative working environment in Sainsbury's.
Slower Decision – Diversity in workplace can also impact Sainsbury's decision making. When
company have diverse employees they bring different perspectives, opinions and ideas in the
organisation. Diversity facilitate organisation with many ideas but many ideas also make
decision making slow because the management of the company need evaluate all ideas to choose
the best one. Sainsbury's also need to acknowledge every individuals idea so that they can make
their employee feel valued.
Prejudice - Diversity can increase biases, discrimination and harassment. When people with
different culture work together instead of listening and understanding each other these people use
stereotypes to avoid working together. Sainsbury's should avoid hiring peoples who hold grudge
against any culture, religion or race because it can create disruption in the organisation. These
stereotypes and prejudice can lead teams into serious conflicts which can have serious impact on
the company.
Less Trust – In a diverse workforce there are peoples from minorities who can develop a feeling
that they are not treated well in the organisation. These people also feel uncomfortable voicing
their opinions in the organisation. To overcome this situation the company need to make sure
that they have good leaders with effective leaderships skills. People are more likely to trust
peoples from same culture and background. Diversity in the organisation can create unofficial
groups in the organisation. People from specific cultures, religions and race can form groups
which can influence organisation's performance.
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Why Scientific Management theories still not phased out entirely from the operations of some
organisations.
Despite its weaknesses Taylorism continue to exist in several organisations today because
there are many advantages of this management theory. Organisations can improve their
economic efficiency and productivity by using Taylors management theory in their organisation.
This theory have many advantages and that's why it still exist in many organisations. It is a
scientific approach to handle management problem (Balamurugan and Santhiya, 2020).
Scientific management theories works on some fundamental principles which are mentioned
below -
Science, Not the rule of thumb – This management theory adopt scientific approach to make
managerial decisions. One of the main reason why organisations are still using this theory is its
scientific approach. The theory discard all unscientific approaches, and it is a proved theory
which give results for sure.
Harmony not discord – Scientific management theory allow organisation to work in unity.
When whole organisation work together for a specific goal them it helps a organisation in many
ways.
Cooperation, Not individualism – The theory bring cooperation in the organisation and many
companies still use this to theory so that they can improve the cooperation with the company.
Maximum Production, in place of restricted production – According to the theory
organisations need to maximise their production in order to get success. The theory can help
companies to increase the production by motivating employees to achieve the results.
Development of each persons capabilities – In the theory FW Taylor insist that a company
must work for the development of its employees. This can help both employees and employers.
This principle of the theory also help a company to retain their employees and it also satisfy
employees self actualisation needs.
Equal division of responsibilities between management and workers – The principle of
scientific management theory recommend that planning and execution should be two different
aspects of a business and management should be concerned about planning while workers should
focus on executing the plans.
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The scientific management theory is one of the earliest theory of workplace management the
theory recognised some problems which are still relevant after so many years. These problems
are mentioned below -
 Employees performance decrease if they do not enjoy their work.
 Sometimes workload is too much or unmanageable.
 Business production may suffer without incentive.
The theory is still in use because still these problems are faced by businesses and the in this
theory Tylor focused on employee productivity and development. Companies following this
theory focus on monetary incentives and training activities (Brahmbhatt, 2019). When profits are
maximised the companies pay incentive to their employees. Taylor's scientific management
theory can be summarised as -
 A best way of doing a task.
 Appropriate division of jobs and responsibilities.
 Incentives for high performance employees.
 Hierarchy of authority and monitoring employees.
Taylor studied the processes involved in a factory production and saw them as a part of one big
machine. He believed that he can increase the efficiency of the organisations by planning,
coordination and efficiency. There are many advantages of the theory and that's why it is still in
use by various organisations. Some of the advantages are mentioned below -
Enhanced Production – Managers of production companies use this theory because it improves
the business operations. Organisations where this theory is applied consist a harmonious
relationship between the management and workers which also help company to motivate its
employees (Hill and Van Buren, 2018).
Better Control – This theory allow managers to to control the production. When employees do
same task repeatedly they become good in their tasks and managers can easily control these
employees. It allow managers to do better division of labour.
Decreased Autocracy – Scientific management theory insist managers to adopt a positive
relationship. When employees and managers cooperate then democracy in the organisation
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improves and autocracy increases. People criticised the theory by saying that it lack unity of
command. Workers have to report to different bosses. These different bosses can give different
commands which can drive employees towards confusion and misunderstandings.
Reduction of cost – The theory help organisations to increase the production and with the help
of technology and effective and efficient machines. This also reduces the cost of the production,
many organisation who produce products and uses this theory for optimum utilisation of
resources (Edwards, 2019).
Effective instructions to workers – Organisation's following scientific management carry out
instructions and work in a systematic manner, according to a predetermined plan. Companies use
this theory because employees in such organisations remain clear about the company goals and
guidelines. Many individuals criticised the theory that it put unnecessary pressure on the
employee to perform a work faster. However the theory insist that employee productivity
increases when they work for incentives and the theory always work when companies need to
increase the productivity.
Better utilisation of resources – The theory allow companies to do optimum utilisation of
resources. By following scientific management theories companies can use raw material,
equipment, machines, money and workers effectively and efficiently (Schachter, 2020). The
principle also allow companies to remove wastage and other unnecessary activities of every kind.
CONCLUSION
In this report it is concluded that every company need to make diverse workforce to gain
a competitive advantage in the market. But a diverse workforce bring many challenges in a
organisation. Sainsbury's need effective and experienced leaders in order to manage the diverse
workforce. In the report we discussed about challenges which Sainsbury's would face in
managing a diverse workforce. Further the report also discuss about Taylorism and why after so
many years the theory is still relevant for the modern organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Balamurugan, G. and Santhiya, B., 2020. Cultural Diversity among the Employees and its Effect
in Organizational Climate. International Journal of Engineering and Management
Research.
Brahmbhatt, A.R., 2019. Multi-Generational Diversity in the Workplace—Its Impact and
Challenges. Emerging Trends in Global Management and Information Technology,
p.215.
Edwards, J.S., 2019. Knowledge Management: Theories and Practices. Connecting Adult
Learning and Knowledge Management, pp.139-156.
Fong, E.B.H., 2021. Building a Culturally and Diversity-Sensitive Workforce. In Organizational
Behavior Management Approaches for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (pp.
251-266). Routledge.
Hill, V. and Van Buren, H., 2018. Taylor won: the triumph of scientific management and its
meaning for business and society. In Corporate Social Responsibility. Emerald
Publishing Limited.
Limón, A.T., 2020. Addressing the realities facing diverse employees in the financial planning
profession. Journal of Financial Planning, 33(11), pp.23-26.
Schachter, H.L., 2020. The uses of Frederick Winslow Taylor: how management theorists have
interpreted scientific management over the years and why. In Handbook of Research on
Management and Organizational History (pp. 39-55). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Sims, C.M., 2018. The diversity intelligent servant leader: Developing leaders to meet the needs
of a diverse workforce. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 20(3), pp.313-330.
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