Leadership in Action: Understanding Organizational Culture, Management Theories, and Learning Styles

This report on Leadership in Action explores the importance of organizational culture, management theories, and learning styles for effective leadership. It covers topics such as conflict management, cognitive learning theory, and preferred styles of learning. The report also includes a personal reflection on the importance of self-evaluation and interpersonal skills in management careers.

Leadership in Action

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
(1) knowledge and understanding of culture and relevant management and learning theories. 3
(2) A key element of assessment is to be able to demonstrate reflective learning......................6
(3) Analysation of preferred style of learning with theories of learning.....................................8
(4) In-depth analysis management career...................................................................................9
(5) personal learning plan.........................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is action is a powerful program adopted in many companies to develop
individual leaders and building momentum for effective and positive company’s culture change.
Basically it will examine behaviour of leaders who lead for the betterment of employees in the
firm. Nowadays, leaders play a vital role to achieve success of business as they build bridges
between knowledge and business action. An effective leaders understand that non-action can
place the firm at risk, which is not beneficial for performance of employees.
The present report will be based on a work based activity, incident or event which is
experienced or directly observed with respect to personal learning. The chosen occasion is
organisational culture. Furthermore, it will provide critical reflection on the chosen activity that
is culture and also develop the personal learning with the help of personal learning action plan.
(1) knowledge and understanding of culture and relevant management and learning theories.
Organisational culture
Organisational culture is all about attitudes, values, goals that characterize an
organisation properly. A strong culture can bring facilities to people working in the firm such as
more efficient decision making process, enhanced trust and few disagreements between
employees (Martínez-Caro, Cegarra-Navarro and Alfonso-Ruiz, 2020). A firm with positive
culture see transparent communication between top level management such as leaders/ managers
and employees.
Importance of organisational culture
The major importance of positive organisational culture improves loyalty of employees
towards the firm on an individual level. It is important to create healthy and safe environment for
employees so that they can work effectively. Leaders, managers and top level management team
needs to create supportive workplace culture in order to run smooth business and achieve goals.
A positive culture provides guidelines in managing the workflow of the firm which is beneficial
for company’s productivity. Human resources of the Tesco plc work with leaders & managers
and also focus on developing organisational culture by adopting various models or theories to
manage performance of employees, people management and talent management.
Culture conflicts

In the company, it is important for human resources team and top managers to maintain
organisational culture, positive environment and working space for employees in order to avoid
conflicts between people. Communication is the key to success of business, so it is necessary to
have communication skills, interpersonal skills and problem solving skills to achieve goals. A
culture conflict is all about disagreement between two people who have different way of
thinking, different ways of living and philosophies (Mannion and Davies, 2018).
Organisational conflict occurs when different types of people have different way of
thinking towards work, different cultural values and beliefs, as they clash conflict occurs. One of
the incident I have experienced when I was working on task with my team members. During the
task, there was conflict between my two team mates who was working on the presentation, they
were blaming each other for the mistake. This situation arises due to lack of understanding
between team mates, lack of communication skills, active listening skills and team work. At
that time, I have realized that conflicts affect the relationship between people, which is not
beneficial for company’s performance, as it creates negative environment and impact the
reputation of the firm.
Management theories
In order to manage such situation, leaders, managers and human resources team needs to
focus on using methods and techniques. They need to follow some of the best management
theories and apply the best practices which can be helpful for them to be more effective in
guiding their team to be successful and achieve goals. By adopting management theories, leaders
can give rise to the leadership approaches which is commonly used to grow the business in the
competitive world (Tuczek, Castka and Wakolbinger, 2018). I think it is necessary to identify the
best strategies that will work for company and team members. It will require deep knowledge of
management theories and practice and some error and trial method. Management theories are the
systematic process and collection of ideas that suggest rules for how to handle the business. By
adopting effective theory managers and leaders of Tesco plc will be able to solve the conflicts
between employees, in the scenario we have discussed above.
Principles of administrative management theory
According to Henry Fayol, it is important to follow some of the important factors while
managing the company. It includes level of freedom, equity, scalar chain, unity of direction,
discipline and authority and responsibility. He examined the company through the perspective of

the managers and situations like culture conflicts. He says that leaders need to focus on function
to plan, control and command in order to interact with team members.
Based on the incident, I think leaders needs to focus on improving level of freedom so
that they can carry out their own responsibilities to compete the task. Then they need to report to
their leaders and expect the feedback from them to make necessary changes. This will motivate
them and hence create team work between team members (Tabatadze, 2019). Keeping in mind
about communication process, there should be a chain of supervisor from top level management
to low level of management team, in order to maintain proper communication flow. This will
increase communication skills between people, which will reduce communication related issues
such as culture conflicts. If the employees feel respected and valued by people, they can easily
focus on their task and accomplish goals for the company. Leaders needs to highlight
regulations, policies and rules that clarify their roles and work on punishment reward system.
Systems management theory – This theory says that leaders and top managers of the
firm should evaluate events and patterns in the firm to determine the best methods of
management. This will be helpful for them to collaborate and create team work between people,
in order to reduce culture conflicts and ensure success of business.
Learning theories
Understanding learning theories will be helpful for the firm to manage learning programs
for the employees. It can result in a different types of outcomes, from improving interpersonal
skills, Knowledge and communication between leaders and employees to determining what they
have learned. By adopting proper learning theories, leaders can reduce conflicts between people
and improve communication skills between them. Learning theories will be helpful for them to
improve work experience, educational level, knowledge level and problem solving skills.
Cognitivism – This type of learning style is basically relying on both internal and external factors
which includes important information, data and thought process. In Tesco plc, it is necessary to
adopt theory to focus on the mind’s role in learning process (Cognitive learning theory, 2022).
This theory says that learning is understood as the knowledge acquisition in which employees are
processor who absorbs important data and information which is undertakes to compete business
operations.

Source: (Çeliköz, Erisen and Sahin, 2019)
Critical reflection, personal and professional evaluation and application
By applying this theories, I have learned that to meet organisational goals and reduce
conflicts between people, leaders needs to work on communication skills. This can be done
through team work and developing interpersonal skills amongst employees. By understanding
the importance of positive culture, I have experienced that it helps us to set goals, improve
learning abilities and increase reputation of firm. Providing the safe an positive environment will
be helpful for staff to explore things more and articulate emotional responses. I learned that it
will improve sharing of knowledge and understanding level with their team members.
(2) A key element of assessment is to be able to demonstrate reflective learning
 Learning is all about understanding the things deeply and improving knowledge
level, it plays an important role in developing personal and professional skills.
During the module, I have learned that a positive environment is needed for every
company because it is driven by clear purpose and expectations of people. An
effective and safe environment can inspire staff to be more engaged in their work
duties and improve interactions with other team members. It also leads to high levels
of employee engagement which is beneficial for company’s productivity.
 During the incident that was conflict between team mates, my leader applied team
work and motivational theories and create communication between them to reduce

conflicts. They have provided training, learning and development programs to
motivate them which drives individual performance. I think one of the best way to
develop the workplace environment is to solve the problems between people working
in the same areas.
 For learning, every leader in the company needs to focus on cognitive learning
theory which supports the hands-on learner style as it is considered to be the best
model which suggests that the human interaction and coordination between them is
important for their success. I experienced that the organisation culture is considered
to be the key factors which would help the employees of Tesco plc choose their own
learning style with the help of leaders.
 By using mental models, the company will improve its intelligent decisions which is
beneficial for the company’s performance. Mental models are all about how people
understand the world, it will guide about the connections and opportunities they see
(Menon, 2018). It is basically connected to the concept of how we consider some
things more relevant than other people. I have learned that this is simply a
representation of how things works in the company or as general. I think one of the
best reason behind using this model is to simplify the complex into understandable.
This is just because we people cannot keep all of the information and details of the
world in our brains. In the company, all the complex systems are subject to negative
and positive feedback loops.
 This will maintain a static environment which is beneficial for managing conflict
between people. In the company, highly responsive to incentive, employees have
perhaps the most varied and hardest to understand set of incentives in the business
world. For example- a sales team of Tesco plc truly believing that their product will
improve the lives of its customers. It’s not merely convenient that he sells the goods,
the fact behind that is he sales the product causes a very real bias in their own
thinking.
 During the module I have learned the importance of own learning process which is
beneficial to create self-confidence, also improve motivation. Also further reflection
on learning helped me to develop deeper learning from the experience about

motivation. I can now develop my thinking process which comes from learning and
reflecting process on my own feelings, thoughts and emotions.
 By learning and developing my management skills I can practice self-evaluation and
find out my areas of development effectively. It is important for leaders to
understand the high level of self-awareness and be a good communicator for
employees.
(3) Analysation of preferred style of learning with theories of learning
There are different styles that are preferred by the employees at Tesco for their learning
such as follows,
“The Student” Style :
In this style of learning the employees prefer more holistic learning environment which
include both listening and looking at information. They are considered to be learning the most
during the supplementation of a discussion which is considered to be an example that help them
support the key points (Khamparia and Pandey, 2020).
“The Independent” Style :
For this style the learner prefers rather a non-verbal and quiet environment to their study
and is considered to be full of frustration during meetings and discussion. These kinds of learners
are considered to be best at what they do at the organization and are innovative, artistic and
designers. They work best at the online or remote work situations.
“The Conversationalist” Style :
These are learners of the work environment which as their name suggest perform best
during different conversations. They are considered to be very good with writing responses and
are can put things together after a verbal hashing out of the details. It can be said that the
frequency of their work does not have any clear expectations, and they perform best talking
things through.
“The Hands-on Learner” Style :
It is the style of learning which learn by practising their work. I can relate to this style as
this is the style that I prefer at my work place for getting the hands on the operations. This is my
style because I am also a learner from practice (El-Sabagh, 2021). Practice is what makes me
perfect and clears all my doubts related to the work place learning, For this style of learner the
best management style is to establish a calm work place and provide these learners the support

they need for spreading their wings. Nervousness is the biggest issues with this style of learners
and for them the organizational culture plays a very important role.
The Cognitive learning theory is the theory which supports the Hands-on learner style as
it is considered to be the theory which suggests that the meaningful human interaction is very
essential for their learning. Thus, the organizational culture is considered to be the key factors
which would help the learner choose their style of learning. Constructivist Learning Theory's
focuses on having the shared experiences as the key passive for the learning experience in the
workplace. This shows how the work practices turns into experiences and acts as the learning for
the employee. Whereas, the Adult learning theory also supports Hands-on learning style as it
says the self-determination an individual show in the organization is also very important for its
learning.
(4) In-depth analysis management career
My management career started from me recognizing the ability that I had for the
management of the members of the teams that was part of. In my career I achieved many great
things which included a job as a manager in Tesco. One of the key skills which were the most
essential for my growth was the interpersonal skills that I had which allowed me to be successful
in the relationships with my team members. It was said that the growth which I was able to
influence in the both the personal and professional levels was associated to the social activities
which is connected to such as team-building, maintaining professional levels through social
activities and also the maintaining of professional boundaries (Castillo and Hallinger, 2018). I
have demonstrated my managerial qualities and authority which were helpful for the maintaining
the plan as the member of the team.
Along with the interpersonal skills I had excellent communication which was also the key
to the motivation I was able to provide my employees. As a team manager my line of
communication was at the front of the staff and senior management. In this the variety of people
which are considered to be the head of the department are considered to be effective in the
different ways which help the social media for the phone and also the presentations. In the quest
of this career I was able to develop skills of organization and successful delegation of work. This
happened due to the multiple responsibilities which I took on the behalf of the organization I
worked for. My ability for the identification of the talent was also the key which helped me to

hire talent at the work place and also be able to delegate them the work which they needed to do
in the organization.
In the experience of this management career I also understood the importance of the
organizational culture in the workplace. The culture of the organization which I established with
the help of my values and practices was the considered to be the key element of the
organizational delegation of work. I was able to gain confidence in the forward planning and
strategical thinking through the job of manager as in was able to think about the bigger picture
which was to focus on the today's task for success in the future. This think came in very handy in
the problem solving and also the decision-making which is perhaps the most essential part of the
management career (Beauchamp and et.al., 2021). The commercial awareness of the last and one
of the most productive thing which I learned while working at the organization and it helped me
to be successful manager.
(5) personal learning plan
A personal learning plan is a basically made by employees/learners- typically in
collaboration with leaders/ supervisor-as a way to help them achieve long and short term learning
goals with respect to the organisational culture. The major purpose of PLP is to provide learners/
employees the opportunity to reflect upon their own learning and development in order to shape
their career and successful future.
Current strengths Goals/ areas of
development
Resources Time frame Success criteria
Interpersonal
skills
Goals setting Attending
workshops,
gather
information from
journals,
magazines,
newspaper.
3 months Now I am able to
track my goals
and daily small
achievements.
Communication
skills
Conflict
resolution
Support of
Human resources
department and
top managers
7 months Now I am trained
professional can
effectively solve
issues and

provide solutions
for the same.
Managing team
work
Accepting
constructive
feedback
Asking daily
performance
reports from
leaders and share
perspective.
Follow up with
leaders.
2.5 months Due to my active
listening skills, I
can easily
understand the
feedback
provided by my
managers and
accepting it.

CONCLUSION
With the help of this project it can be concluded that I was able to successfully evaluate
the key process a practices in my management Tesco. In this project my evaluation of the nature
of the mangers and leadership learning was also very important for the development of the
organizational learning in the management career. I was also able to design and justify the
personal learning plan which was focused on building the personal learning which I was able to
identify in the project. Organizational culture was identified as the specific learning activity
towards which I focused and it helped me to learn about the different learning styles at the work
place with the help of different theories

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Beauchamp, G., and et.al., 2021. ‘People miss people’: A study of school leadership and
management in the four nations of the United Kingdom in the early stage of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Educational Management Administration & Leadership. 49(3).
pp.375-392.
Castillo, F.A. and Hallinger, P., 2018. Systematic review of research on educational leadership
and management in Latin America, 1991–2017. Educational Management
Administration & Leadership. 46(2). pp.207-225.
El-Sabagh, H.A., 2021. Adaptive e-learning environment based on learning styles and its impact
on development students' engagement. International Journal of Educational Technology
in Higher Education. 18(1). pp.1-24.
Khamparia, A. and Pandey, B., 2020. Association of learning styles with different e-learning
problems: a systematic review and classification. Education and Information
Technologies. 25(2). pp.1303-1331.
Martínez-Caro, E., Cegarra-Navarro, J. G. and Alfonso-Ruiz, F. J., 2020. Digital technologies
and firm performance: The role of digital organisational culture. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change. 154. p.119962.
Mannion, R. and Davies, H., 2018. Understanding organisational culture for healthcare quality
improvement. Bmj. 363.
Tuczek, F., Castka, P. and Wakolbinger, T., 2018. A review of management theories in the
context of quality, environmental and social responsibility voluntary standards. Journal of
cleaner production. 176. pp.399-416.
Tabatadze, L., 2019. The Evolution of Management Theories. The New Economist. 14(2). pp.1-
1.
van Ments, L. and Treur, J., 2021. Reflections on dynamics, adaptation and control: a cognitive
architecture for mental models. Cognitive Systems Research. 70. pp.1-9.
Menon, A., 2018. Bringing cognition into strategic interactions: Strategic mental models and
open questions. Strategic Management Journal. 39(1). pp.168-192.
Çeliköz, N., Erisen, Y. and Sahin, M., 2019. Cognitive Learning Theories with Emphasis on
Latent Learning, Gestalt and Information Processing Theories. Online Submission. 9(3).
pp.18-33.
Online
7 skills for a successful management career, 2018. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/job-sectors/business-
consulting-and-management/7-skills-for-a-successful-management-career>
Cognitive learning theory. 2022. [Online]. Available through: <
https://360learning.com/guide/learning-theories/cognitive-learning-theory/>