Role of Leadership in Improving Employee’s Performance and Productivity within the UK Automotive Industry

This research paper focuses on the role of leadership in improving employee’s performance and productivity within the UK automotive industry, with a case study on Aston Martin. It examines the concept of leadership, its different styles, impact on employee productivity, and challenges of poor leadership.

Research Methods
(Role of leadership in improving
employee’s performance and
productivity within the UK automotive
industry )

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
Background of the topic..............................................................................................................4
Background of the organisation..................................................................................................4
Rationale of the research.............................................................................................................5
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................7
What is the concept of leadership and its different types of styles used within the UK
automotive industry?...................................................................................................................7
What is the impact of leadership on employee’s productivity and performance of Aston
Martin?........................................................................................................................................8
What are the major challenges of poor leadership within the workplace of Aston Martin?.......9
RESEARCH METHODLOGY.....................................................................................................10
KEY FINDINGS ON SECONDARY RESEARCH.....................................................................11
TIMEFRAME WORK: GANTT CHART.....................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

ABSTRACT
The main idea of carrying out this research is to identify the effective role of leadership in
improving the productivity and performance of employees within the automotive industry. The
present ongoing research mainly describes about the following objectives and they are defined as
to examine the concept of leadership and its different styles that are used within organisation, to
identify the effect of leadership in order to improve the performance and productivity of
employees working within the company and to study the challenges face by the organisation in
the absence of leadership. Leadership is an important part in the research and this helps in
gaining high profitability and growth in the high competitive business environment. This
research helps the researcher in gaining more detailed knowledge about the selected topic and in
engaging them in getting that done in an efficient and effective way. Leadership is defined as a
working ability of person or a group of persons that helps in influencing and guiding the
employees of the organisation to work in the right direction so that increased growth and success
can be gained. In the current investigation, the investigator has collected and analysed
quantitative data for conducting the overall research in a more effective way so that proper
information can be gained. In the following research the data used for collection by the
investigator is both secondary and primary and the information is gathered by using
questionnaire method.

INTRODUCTION
Background of the topic
The current research is based on identifying the significant role of leadership in the UK
automotive industry on the performance and productivity of employees. Leadership is the
important factor that directs and assists employees for delivering better results and growth in the
highly competitive environment (Beer, 2018). It helps in developing the working ability of the
employees is that they work with high dedication and confidence for achieving the aims and
objectives of the automotive industry. Effective and strong leadership in an organisation helps in
increasing the level of motivation and encouragement to work in an effective and efficient
manner for increased growth and success in the business market. There are several types of
leadership styles that helps in building a strong and effective relationship among the employees
and leaders of the company so that they gain more market share and more number of customers.
Leadership has a great impact in the performance and productivity of the employees as it helps in
delivering better services and growth in the market (Megheirkouni and Mejheirkouni, 2020).
Great leaders are more driven towards achieving the vision and mission of the organisation in the
competitive market for increased success and profitability. Great leaders plays a very important
role in an organisation as they helps in motivating and inspiring employees to work in a more
efficient way in order to achieve high customer satisfaction and loyalty. Adoption of leadership
practices is important as it helps the automotive industry in guiding the new employees in
explaining their role and responsibilities that they needed to perform.
Background of the organisation
The chosen organisation in the present carried on research is Aston Martin which is
considered as a exclusive, modern sports car brand with a unique or specific heritage instantly
identified across the world. It was founded in 1913 by Robert Bamford, Lionel Martin, Aston
Martin which is recognised as an iconic brand globally with luxury, style exclusivity and
performance (Le Nozach, 2020). The vision of the Aston Martin is to become the most ultra-
luxury, desirable British brand that helps in creating the most finely addictive cars performance.
This company uses the latest technology beautiful styling and timely honoured craftsmanship in
order to produce a wide range of critically acclaimed value of luxury models of cars which
includes Vantage, DBS, DB11 and DBX and its first hyper-car that is regarded as Aston Martin

Valkyrie. The company is primarily known for producing beautiful and creative design cars and
this attracts many customers to towards purchasing and creating a image in their minds to wok in
a better manner. The cars produced by this company have gained importance and has become the
British icon rather than it is considered as a global brand of auto-mobile industry (Aston, 2018).
Aston Martin makes cars not only for breaking up lap records at the Nurburging but for
delivering an effective and passionate drive experience, an unforgettable road trip experience
around the continent. The company mainly focusses in attracting customers towards attractive
and unique design of their cars which are better on road and provides strong experience on road.
Rationale of the research
The major purpose of carrying out this present research is that it helps in identifying the
efficient role of leadership in bringing high success and growth in the overall business and in
improving the working capability of the employees. This is quite important topic that helps the
researcher in completing the whole research as it results in determining different styles of
leadership for developing employee motivation in the workplace (Karatzias and Cloitre, 2019).
They mainly focus on implementing better practices that helps in improving the efficiency and
capability of employees to perform in an effective manner. Leadership helps the employees of
the company in improving their performance and productivity by providing proper training so
that they work towards achieving high success and growth in the competitive market (Dewasiri,
Weerakoon and Azeez, 2018). There are mainly tow types of objectives that are fulfilled by
conducting this research and they are known as personal and professional objectives. In terms of
personal objective, the researcher will gain detailed insight about the methods and tools used in
completing the whole research in a scientific manner. This also helps in increasing the skills and
knowledge about the selected topic and this results in achieving personal growth. In context of
professional objective, the researcher will build several skills such as problem solving skills,
research skill, effective decision making skill and many more. This also helps in developing
professional career of the researcher and this will result in gaining several opportunities related
top job that are available in the automotive industry. This also helps other researcher in carrying
out the research in future in an more effective way as they gain important information from the
present research.
Research topic:

To identify the role of leadership in improving employee’s performance and productivity
within the UK automotive industry
Research aim:
To identify the role of leadership in improving employee’s performance and productivity
within the UK automotive industry: A study on Aston Martin
Research objectives:
 To develop basic understanding about the leadership and its different types of styles used
within the UK automotive industry
 To determine the impact of leadership on employee’s productivity and performance of
Aston Martin
 To examine the challenges of poor leadership within the workplace of Aston Martin
Research questions:
 What is the concept of leadership and its different types of styles used within the UK
automotive industry?
 What is the impact of leadership on employee’s productivity and performance of Aston
Martin?
 What are the major challenges of poor leadership within the workplace of Aston Martin?

LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is a document which provides brief understanding about the chosen
topic. It mainly includes critical evaluation of the specific topic and also focuses on improving
the research methodology. The good literature review provides understanding of the topic and
also shows the signs of synthesis.
What is the concept of leadership and its different types of styles used within the UK automotive
industry?
As per the perspective of Alblooshi, Shamsuzzaman and Haridy, (2020), leadership is a
process of guiding, influencing and directing the employees in order to achieve the business
goals and objective. The concept of leadership is wider as it provide direction to staff so that they
can contribute in improving the efficiency and performance of business. It is important for an
organisation to have effective leaders within team as they motivate and guide the staff and also
provide clarity of purpose due to which the mission and vision of company can be achieved in
smooth and effective manner. The objective of leadership is to develop feeling of cooperation
and coordination, determine and provide needful direction about the right or wrong and also
helps in developing new and innovative ideas for achieving the business goals. Leadership
concept includes the factors which leaders consider while applying leadership style and
overseeing the team of individuals (Adnan and Valliappan, 2019). The concept of leadership
helps professionals to understand what kind of character and skills need to develop in order
perform leadership roles. Good leadership helps in creating vision and also motivates employees
to perform their job role in effective and efficient manner. There are different types of leadership
style which are used within UK automotive industry such as participative leadership style,
autocratic, democratic, transformational and transactional. The leadership style reflects the
characteristics and behaviour of leader which helps in providing direction, motivation and
guidance to team members. Autocratic leadership is one of the leadership style which can be
used by UK automotive industry as in this leadership style, leaders generally make their own
decision without involving any employees (Kelly and MacDonald, 2019). This leadership style is
useful for the organisation as it includes strict guidelines which employees have to follow while
working in workplace. The other leadership style which can be used by company in order to
improve their business performance and productivity is democratic leadership style. It is a style

in which employees participate in business activities and also contribute their opinion in order to
increase the business productivity. Transformational leadership style is other style which can be
implemented by automotive industry as it focuses on employee motivation, clear communication
and goal setting. Company can also focus on using transactional leadership style in which leader
established predetermined incentives in terms of monetary. The transactional leaders mainly
focus on instruction, mentorship and training so that staff can achieve the goals and objective of
business in significant manner. Thus, leader generally appreciated the performance of
employees if they contribute their best efforts and also they give punishment to staff if they were
not able to achieve the target in set deadline. Thus, it is important to implement the effective
leadership style within an organisation so that the performance and growth of business increases.
What is the impact of leadership on employee’s productivity and performance of Aston Martin?
As per the opinion of Kalkan and et. al., (2020), there is a great impact of leadership on
employees' productivity ad performance of organisation as it helps in encouraging the employees
to give their productive outcomes in achieving the particular task. The effective leaders helps in
encouraging staff to increase the efficiency and effectiveness in order to develop them for
gaining competitive edge. While working in an organisation, employees generally need support
and guidance due to which it is important to have great leaders that gives their best efforts in
improving the efficiency and productivity of employees. There are various strategies which can
be used by leaders in order to improve the performance and productivity of employees within
workplace such as setting clear goals, organising employee training program, developing
employee recognition program, becoming good mentor and coach and knowing the strength and
weakness of each employees. These are the strategies through which leader can enhance the
efficiency and productivity of staff within workplace. Leader can improve the work performance
by establishing and setting clear goals for employees. Without clear goals, employees cannot
work in effective and efficient manner. An effective leader cannot expect their employees to
work effectively and efficiently without knowing what thy should accomplish within workplace.
By establishing clear goals, leaders ensures channelisation of employees' hard work and efforts
in accomplishing set goals (Sriyakul and et. al., 2019). Leaders also focus on organising training
and development program for their employees in order to make them learn something new and
improve their skills and knowledge. Training and development is one of the effective strategy
through which leader can improve the performance and efficiency of staff. Aston Martin must

also focus on organising employee recognition program so that they feel appreciated and
valuable within business. Rewarding and acknowledging employees is also an effective
strategies which leaders of Aston Martin can use in order to improve the performance and
productivity of business. Therefore, these are the few strategies which helps leaders to enhance
the efficiency and growth of employees within an organisation.
What are the major challenges of poor leadership within the workplace of Aston Martin?
As per the viewpoint of Makgato and Mudzanani (2019), there are various challenges
which can be faced by company due to poor leadership within workplace. These issues creates a
great impact on the organisational performance and productivity. The few challenges which are
faced by Aston Martin due to poor leadership within workplace are low morale, loss of high
performing employees, unattractive workplace culture, high turnover, handling different
perspective and managing team effectively. It is important to ensure that organisation must have
good leader that can contribute their full potential in providing right guidance to employees and
company. The poor leadership within workplace can can reduce the morale and motivation level
of staff due to which they give low performance. Without leadership it becomes difficult to
handle the different perspective of employees as it results in conflict and stress. Leaders are the
person who can manage the conflicts of employees within workplace and focuses on developing
positive working environment (Araslı and Arıcı, 2019). The other challenge which can be faced
by organisation due to poor leadership is managing team effectively. When there is poor
leadership within Aston Martin it becomes challenging to manage the team in effective and
efficient manner. It is important for the leader top manage the team by making them engaged in
work and building trust among them. Organisation also faces issues related to high turnover due
to poor leadership. The poor leadership within workplace leads to high turnover which influence
the performance and productivity of business. It is necessary to focus on reducing the turnover
rate of employees by investing more on them and making them feel valuable within workplace.
The high turnover can create a great impact on the brand image and reputation of Aston Martin.
Thus, it is important to overcome the challenges as it can affect the business performance and
productivity.

RESEARCH METHODLOGY
It is considered as one of the significant chapters that facilitates in the accumulation and
evaluation of accurate information in a systematic manner. Researcher will be using Saunders
research onion framework so that information can be collected step by step and its analysis can
also be done effectively (Snyder, 2019). This will provide detailed information about the
methods of research with their apt justification.
Research Philosophy: Philosophy is one of the research methods which provides detailed
information about principles and beliefs for the collection and analysis of information. It is of
two significant parts which are: positivism and interpretivism philosophy (Mohajan, 2018).
Investigator will be choosing interpretivism philosophy so that relevancy of qualitative
information can be identified. The main advantage that researcher will experience while doing
investigation is utilising limited time as well as collecting great piece of qualitative piece of
information.
Research Approach: It is another research method which gives evaluation and analysis
of relevant data. This uses theories for the systematic evaluation and analysis of assembled piece
of information. It is mainly categorised into two forms which include: inductive and deductive
approach (Pandey and Pandey, 2021). Researcher will be depending upon inductive approach
because it accommodates in using new theory to evaluate recorded qualitative and text piece of
information. The main advantage of using inductive approach is that it forms new theories to
evaluate and measure text information.
Research Strategy: It is another significant method of research that helps in determining
right kind of method for collecting information. There are several kinds of research strategies
which are: action research, case study, systematic literature review, survey, archival research,
grounded theory and many more (Newman and Gough, 2020). Investigator will be considering
case study and systematic literature review as research strategies to record appropriate and
relevant piece of information. Researcher will use case study so that authentic and relevant data
about the chosen topic can be assembled and used to meet pre-defined aim and objectives of the
investigation. On the other hand, researcher will also be using systematic literature review
because it assists in addressing the questions of the investigation with the assistance of second-
hand data. This only assembles secondary which is available in theoretical form.

Research Choice: Another research method which holds great importance is choice
because it assists in determining right kind of information for accomplishing the purpose of the
proposed study. This is majorly categorised into two forms which are: qualitative and
quantitative research choice. Investigator will be selecting qualitative research choice because it
facilitates in collecting information which is in non-numerical form (Dźwigoł and Dźwigoł-
Barosz, 2018). The main advantage of selecting qualitative choice is that it records data quickly
in comparison of quantitative choice. The other advantage of this choice is that it gives insights
and facts that are particular to selected industry.
Data Collection: It is another significant method of research that assists in accumulating
information valid to the selected topic of the investigation. It is majorly categorised into two
forms such as primary and secondary data collection method. Investigator will be selecting
secondary data collection method because it saves time of the researcher by using published and
used piece of information in a systematic manner (Nayak and Singh, 2021). The major advantage
of secondary data collection method is that it helps in saving time of the investigator along with
it gives ease of access. The secondary method of data collection will use secondary sources such
as journals, articles, newspapers, books, publications, conducted survey and interviews etc.
Data Analysis: Analysis and evaluation of information holds great importance in the
study because it carries out accuracy and relevancy of the whole proposed study (Bairagi and
Munot, 2019). It has two important forms which include: frequency distribution analysis and
thematic analysis. Investigator will be using thematic analysis because it assists in the procedure
of examining and evaluating qualitative and theoretical data.
KEY FINDINGS ON SECONDARY RESEARCH
According to the data assembled in the section of literature review, it is analysed that
leadership is one of the significant procedures to guide, influence and direct workforce to attain
the objectives and goals of the organisation. It gives appropriate direction to employees so that
they can contribute to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the whole business (Nguyen
and et. al., 2018). It is essential to have leaders in the company so that they can encourage,
empower and motivate whole workforce towards the attainment of their assigned objectives and
goals. The major purpose of leadership is developing and creating coordination and cooperation,
providing needful guidance and direction and creating new ideas and thoughts to meet business
objectives and goals. In an organisation, there are several kinds of leadership styles which are

adopted by automotive industry of the United Kingdom such as democratic leadership,
participative leadership, autocratic leadership, transactional leadership and transformational
leadership. The adoption of relevant leadership style in the organisation reflects the nature of an
organisation. It also highlights the behaviour and characteristics of each leader towards giving
direction, guidance and motivation to each member of the team (Fonsén and Soukainen, 2020).
Leadership style holds great significance in the company because it gives timely direction and
guidance to each employee so that they can perform their assigned roles and responsibilities
effectively and efficiently (Askeland, 2020). Transformational leadership style is one of the
effective leadership styles which is adopted by automotive industry because it assist in
motivating team members of the team, creating communication channels for timely
communicating right information, setting goals and objectives for each team member and many
more. Another greatest leadership style adopted by automotive industry is transactional
leadership in which leaders give instruction, training and mentorship to each employees so that
each employee can attain objectives and goals of the company. Therefore, leaders appreciate and
encourage employees in such a manner that they always remain motivated and encouraged
towards their work. Leadership in an organisation plays great role because employees are always
dependent over them regarding their assigned activities, roles and responsibilities. Leadership
has positive impact over productivity and performance of employees because employees
working in Aston Martin need continuous and consistent guidance and support (Mårell-Olsson
and Bergström, 2018). A tiny mistake in automotive company can lead to high loss. When
employees have appropriate and effective leaders then they easily communicate their problems,
issues, needs and requirements. This assists them in attaining their goals and objectives in a
systematic way along with minimum wastage of limited and significant resources. An
organisation faces several challenges due to poor leadership styles in the organisation such as
high employee turnover, unattained targets & objectives, more chaos and confusion, negative
working environment etc. Due to poor leadership style, employees do not feel encouraged or
motivated in the workplace and do not focus over attainment of company's objectives and
targets. Hence, when relevant leadership style is not adopted it makes employees to switch to
another company where they can empowered and encouraged towards their assigned work.

TIMEFRAME WORK: GANTT CHART
Time refers to the element in an investigation which helps in achieving pre-defined
objectives and aim of the study (Dodds and Hess, 2020). So, researcher will be using Gantt chart
for scheduling activities and tasks of the study in a systematic manner. It is categorised into two
sections: one section gives detail of activities that need to be conducted and another section
includes time interval for completing each activity.

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