STRUCTURE, CULTURE & LEADERSHIP AT JOHNSONS OF WHIXLEY - A NURSERY

Running head: JOHNSONS OF WHIXLEY
JOHNSONS OF WHIXLEY
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Structure, Culture, Leadership:
Johnsons of Whixley is one of the major nursery organization of Europe, which has kept the
business within the family itself. It is a three generation organization that is quite flexible
considering the operational approaches of the company and the organization includes an
imaginative approach in its organizational conducts and to rewards its workforce. It is a very
small firm, with nearly 100 years of experience in this particular industry. The organization itself
is very innovative and imaginative, and it practices an exclusive authenticity in its operational
conducts. The 11 members if the family effectively manages the business and it is the family
members who holds all the leadership positions of the organization.
However, since the rise of the concept of sustainable business attitudes and integration of
the business ideas and the changes of the market trend, the need for leadership ha bee much
realized for the management of the organizational conducts. It is especially achieve with the
growth of the organization itself. They had started off as a small firm and gradually over almost
100 years the organization has expanded itself, and along with this, there has been initiated a
need for the practice of leadership.
As had been mentioned the leadership positions are essentially held by the members of
the family, but this only highlights a conservative and traditional approach, and in order for the
organization to become a large and international brand, it must practice the forms of
transactional leadership approach. Therefore, in this light, the structure, culture and the
leadership practices of the organization will be discussed in the following.
The current business head of the organization is John Richardson, who has been holding
the position for the past 50 years. It is under his supervision, and it is his innovative ideas which

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has made the organization a common and popular name as a plant supplying organization, and it
is his ideas that has made the organization popular across Europe. However, this particular
aspects can be looked at in two ways. First, the organization does not encourage change, and two
the organization has a good staff retention policy and system and a loyal and effective employee
base. Therefore, considering the first aspects, it can be said, that a young mind works faster, and
it is one of the sole responsibility of the organization to empower another young mind to take his
position in his absence. As there had been instances that, when a particular position is held for a
longer period of time, then it is likely that in the absence of the individuals the operational
aspects of the organization is thwarted (Commercial Nursery | Johnsons Of Whixley Home,
2020). Therefore, this is a very likable situation for the organization. More importantly, another
person in the similar position can provide an organization a different direction which can be
more effective for the growth of the organization itself.
However, in the management of an agricultural farm which is this much big, there is
essentially a need for the practice of leadership. More importantly, in a farming or agricultural
company, there are a number of sections or segments, where there is an increased need of the
management of the employees or the workers. Also, the marketing of the agricultural farm is
another most important aspect. Like other organization and like the other industries there are
potential amount of competitors in this industry as well, therefore, the marketing division of
Johnsons of Whixley also needed to be made strong and effective, and this is essentially the role
or responsibility of the leaders. Therefore, in the organization there is an essential need for
leadership development and thereupon, the practice of the same.
Considering an organization which remotely belongs to the agricultural industry, it can be
said , that there are essentially four basic roles of the leaders in the industry, first is, specific task

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activities, which includes the supervision and guidance for certain specific tasks, reacted to
manufacturing or service. This is also noted as the technical activity. The second type of role
involves the interpersonal activities, which includes managing communication system within the
farm, managing interpersonal relationships, within the organization. This refers to the
management of the relationship among the workers, managing the relationship between the
administration and the employees, as well as management of the interpersonal relationship with
the customers of the organization. A third type role or activities that the leaders of such
organizations are involved into is, the administrative works where, the organization, planning,
developmental aspects of the products and services are involved. These are the general
responsibilities of the leaders. A last attribute or activity of the leaders is to manage the
promotional activities of the organization (Vahl. 2018). This includes marketing, reaching to the
customers, trying to expand the customer base, planning for seminars and having a regular
update upon the activities of the market competitions this also includes, having a clear and
updated notion of the market, and therefore planning for the developmental plans, accordingly.
Now, according to the organizational members and the owner of the company, all these
aspects and responsibilities are taken care by the family members of the organization and the
business head of the organization. Therefore, it can be said that the organization essentially needs
to change its structural aspects in order to gain more profit and to expand their business. The
organizational conducts, which the company is involved into are quite traditional in its
endeavors. It has a hierarchical structure which is extreme and very limited, thus providing a
very small opportunity to the employees to rise and grow within the organization, which,
therefore, impacts upon their employee retention structure. It is likely that the organization is
bound to face an issue with employee turnover if it provides a limited growth opportunity to the