Leadership and Management in Tesco: Theories, Skills, and Culture

This report discusses the importance of leadership and management in Tesco, including theories, skills, and culture. It covers the impact of leadership theories on decision making, the role of leaders and managers in developing an effective culture, and the reflection on the impact of leadership and management.

Introduction to
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Leaders and Managers.................................................................................................................3
Hard Skills Vs Soft Skills...........................................................................................................4
Leadership theories and Impact on the importance and the effectiveness and decision making
.....................................................................................................................................................5
Importance of culture and the role of leaders and managers in developing an effective culture5
Reflection on the impact of leadership and management ..........................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Leadership refers to the ability of an individual to influence and motivate the action of
the members working in his team. This help the people working in organisation in guiding and it
further develops the sense of working in the company (Alzghoul and et. al., 2018) Management
on the other hand is an administration process where a single person or group of persons plan,
organize and monitor the activities in the organisation in order to ensure smooth flow of
operations in the business. Leadership and Management are the most essential activities in the
organisation as it helps in improving the efficiency and productivity in the work. In this report
Tesco is considered which is a large private sector organisation based in UK, dealing in
groceries and general merchandise. This report covers the type of management and leadership
followed in the respective company.
MAIN BODY
Leaders and Managers
Leaders refers to the person who helps the organisation in leading the employees to the
objective by influencing and motivating them through different techniques. There are several
types of leadership styles in the environment, every organisation and leader chooses one of them
according to their preference and need. They exhibit characteristics such as strategic view, team
management, innovative and open mindedness (Farrell, 2018). They motivates the employees so
that the company can effectively attain the objectives. In context of Tesco, the have good leaders
in the organisation which motivates the employees and get the work effectively done.
Managers are the person who organise the activities in the company and effectively
manage them through different techniques. The role of manager broadly covers the planning,
organising, supervising and controlling of activities in the business. Managers divide the tasks in
the employees according to their skills and abilities. They exhibit the skills such as problem
solving, conformity and organisational. In context of Tesco, they have functional and store
managers in every story across the country, where the managers are responsible for planning and
managing the activities in that particular store.

Hard Skills Vs Soft Skills
Basis Hard Skills Soft Skills
Definition These skills are known as technical
skills as they are specific to the job.
These skills are different in every
types of Job (Guhr, Lebek and
Breitner, 2019). In context of Tesco,
the hard skills required in the
employees working in the operations
are to manage the inventory.
These are the general
characteristic that is referred and
relevant to the personal traits of a
person. In context of Tesco, the
employees hired in the
organisation must be good team
players and have good
communication skills.
Development of the
skill
The hard skills are developed in a
person with help of some educational
course or training in that area. In
context of Tesco, their marketing
techniques and management skills can
only be learnt through training or
education in the same area.
The soft skills on the other hand
are developed with personal
experiences and the long
professional life. In context of
Tesco, their employees have
developed communication
through personal experiences in
their academic and professional
life.
Measuring of skills Hard skills can be measured by
numerical terms or the performance
criteria. If the person is able to
perform a specific job then they have
good hard skills.
Soft skills are type of intangible
terms where the skills can't be
quantified and are generally
judged on the qualitative scale.
Evaluation of skills Evaluation of these skills can be done
by Tesco through different tools such
as portfolios, resumes and job specific
questions and tasks.
The evaluation of soft skills are
done on the basis of questions
that are situational and
behavioural.
Examples Hard skills include Sales, Business
analysis , coding, manufacturing etc.
Soft skills include
communication, punctuality,

listening, problem solving etc.
Leadership theories and Impact on the importance and the effectiveness and decision making
Leadership theories help the organisation in following a set of actions that would help in
influencing and motivating the employees of the business (Song and et. al., 2020). There are
several types of leadership theories that has been emerged in the environment, few of them are
discussed below: Contingency theory: This theory states that the leaders have to decide the set of actions
according to the situation and there are no theories that are applicable and effective in all
the situations. In this style the technique applied by the leaders changes according to the
requirement of the situation. In context of Tesco, they extensively follows this style in
their organisation as it helps them in dealing and blending with all types of situations. Transactional theory: These theory believes in rewarding and punishing the employees
based on the results delivered by them in the organisation. These theory suggest a
thorough supervision and analysis of the performance of the employees and rewarding
the employees based on the results (Heidari, Ghasemi and Heidari, 2019). This theory is
often applied by Tesco, where they set objectives for the employees and they expect that
workforce should attain the objectives. On the completion of objective they award the
employees with the bonuses, raises and gifts.
 Participative theory: This theory is based on the style where the participation from the
employee's side is important and the organisation considers the decisions and ideas given
by the employees working in the company. Tesco implements these theory at a minimal
level where sometimes they take ideas and inputs from their employees.
Importance of culture and the role of leaders and managers in developing an effective culture
Organisational culture refers to the values that the employees exhibit in organisation
towards their work and co-workers. The business who has an effective organisation culture is
more tend to succeed in long term as compared to other business who does not have any culture
aspect (Semedo, Coelho and Ribeiro, 2017). In context of Tesco, they have a very effective and
developed organisation culture which assist their employees in contributing the best in the
business. The importance of organisational culture in Tesco is discussed below:

 Elevated productivity: Through an effective culture, the employees of Tesco feel
welcomed and good in the organisation which directly contributes to their productivity
level. A good working culture enhances the pace and quality of work that the employees
put in the organisation. Healthy team environment: With the help of an effective culture, Tesco builds a healthy
environment where everyone shows the team building skills. Working in a team enhances
the performance of the business.
Role of leaders and managers in developing effective culture Providing the employees a communication platform- Leaders should organise and
conduct activities and event in the organisation as they will help in building the team
spirit. Everyone working in the organisation would get to communicate with each other
which would help in developing the environment and culture of the company. In context
of Tesco, they organise various events in the organisation on the weekends where the
employees get together. This helps in developing a friendly and cooperative culture in the
business.
 Supervising and maintaining the decorum of the organisation- The inappropriate
behaviour of any type in the organisation is not considered and the employee are warned
by the managers (Simba and Thai, 2019). This helps in maintaining the decorum as every
employee in Tesco would be aware that their activities are being monitored and any kind
of unethical, inappropriate or unprofessional behaviour would get them in trouble.
Reflection on the impact of leadership and management
From the above discussion of leadership and management factors in general and in
context of Tesco, I analysed that these two areas play an essential role in the functioning of the
business. Further I understood that leaders and managers play a separate role in the organisation
and they both requires different set of skills in their job. Leadership and management directly
impacts the operations of the business in terms of productivity, culture, profitability and almost
every aspect that is related with the business. An effective Leadership pattern helps the
organisation in attaining the goals set by the business and management is responsible for setting
up a plan and organising the workforce in order to achieve the objective. Therefore they both are
very impactful in the business and the organisation is required to develop these areas as this will
help them in sustaining in the environment for a long time.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that leadership and management in the
organisation are most essential as they drive effectiveness in the operations along with
efficiency. The business must develop good leaders and managers in the organisation in order to
be successful in attaining the objectives set by the organisation. The organisation must choose
appropriate leadership theory in the business as they drive good decision making in the business.
The culture of the organisation must be appropriate as it helps in creating a good image of the
company among the employees and customers. A good culture is also effective in driving
productivity in the operations and the leaders and managers play a huge role in it.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alzghoul, A., and et. al., 2018. Knowledge management, workplace climate, creativity and
performance: The role of authentic leadership. Journal of Workplace Learning.
Farrell, M., 2018. Leadership reflections: Organizational culture. Journal of Library
Administration. 58(8). pp.861-872.
Guhr, N., Lebek, B. and Breitner, M.H., 2019. The impact of leadership on employees' intended
information security behaviour: An examination of the full‐range leadership theory.
Information Systems Journal. 29(2). pp.340-362.
Heidari, M., Ghasemi, S. and Heidari, R., 2019. The effects of leadership and employment in
technical capabilities of sport teams. Journal of Humanities Insights. 3(02). pp.75-80.
Semedo, A.S.D., Coelho, A.F.M. and Ribeiro, N.M.P., 2017. Authentic leadership and creativity:
the mediating role of happiness. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.
Simba, A. and Thai, M.T.T., 2019. Advancing entrepreneurial leadership as a practice in MSME
management and development. Journal of Small Business Management. 57. pp.397-416.
Song, Y., and et. al., 2020. A multiplex view of leadership structure in management teams.
Personnel Psychology. 73(4). pp.615-640.