Leadership and Management Theories: Burberry Case Study & Reflection

This report reflects on leadership experiences at Burberry, applying various leadership and management theories. It covers behavioral, transformational, and situational leadership, emphasizing the importance of adapting leadership styles to different situations. The author shares their experience in leading a team, adopting a transformational leadership approach to inspire and motivate team members. The report identifies areas for personal development, including time management, communication, decision-making, and IT skills, outlining an action plan for improvement. The conclusion highlights the crucial role of leaders in organizations and the significance of continuous skill enhancement for success. Desklib offers a platform to explore similar solved assignments and past papers.

Leadership and
Management theory
and Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
APPENDICE....................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Leadership can be referred to as the ability which involves guiding and influencing the
followers or the other members of the company. It mainly captures the essentials of being
prepared and able to inspire other people. An effective leadership is mainly based on ideas which
are both original or borrowed which are communicated effectively to other people in such a way
that it engages them in order to act as such a leader wants them all to act. A leader is the one
which inspires other people to act together with directing their way. In a business, leadership is
directly linked to the performance so a leader in the corporate context is the one who mainly
increases the bottom line of the company (Oc, 2018). The company chosen in this report is
Burberry, a luxury British fashion house which is headquartered in the city of London, England.
It was founded in the year 1856. this report will cover the reflection on the experience of
leadership together with suggesting areas of development, including action plan.
MAIN BODY
It is very important for an individual to have knowledge of the leadership styles and
theories so that it can play an effective role of the leader. These theories have helped me to
understand the role of the leader and how it carry out its leadership. When I joined the company
Burberry, I was very excited to carry out m job. The slowly and gradually I was given the
responsibility to mange the team of 4-5 members. This gave me the opportunity to explore
myself as the leader and inculcate essential leadership traits in me. As I have undergone the
management course, I got the opportunity to learn about different theories and styles of
leadership which helped me in my experience. The first theory which I leant was behavioural
theory which mainly focuses on how the environment of the person and not its natural abilities
form it into the leader (van Knippenberg and van Ginkel, 2021). One essential concept of this
theory which I learnt was conditioning as it states that the person can lead or act in the certain
style as the result of its environmental responses to the behaviour. One thing which I learnt from
this theory was that the behaviour and physical environment defines an individual as the leader
not its natural competencies and abilities. Second theory is transformational leadership which
studies the effective leadership as a result of the positive relationship between the leader and its
members. The leader inspired from this theory is motivated and inspired from its passion and
enthusiasm (Ospina and et. al., 2020). I thing which I observed from this theory was that the

leader is seen as the model for its team and it held themselves to similar standard as they expect
others to be. Third theory which I learnt in class was situational theory which does not relate to
any certain style which is best, rather this theory argues that best type of leader is the one who
has ability to adapt the style on the basis of the situation. The leader can respond to situation by
way of coaching, commanding, participating, persuading, delegating as per their necessity. They
are defined as the flexible one.
When I got the chance to lead the team, I tried to adopt the transformational leadership
theory as it inspires me to encourage the members to do their best and such leaders are aimed to
bring change in the the working. One such instance during my experience was that I was given
the task to manage the performance of the team by the plan which was drawn from my seniors.
So my role was to encourage my team to work on the plan and achieve its outcome. I tried to
guide them as and when necessary so that they can finish their work on time. I tried to adopt the
transformational style of leadership which brings changes in the individuals and the social
system. These type of leaders create the positive as well as valuable change in followers with an
end goal of developing the followers into the leaders. I am very inspired from the Bezos, CEO of
Amazon which also follows transformational style. It searches for various ways in which it can
transform the company by becoming innovative. In the similar manner, I also want to transform
my way of working by my innovative ideas so that I can deliver the creative and positive
outcome. I directed the team and lead them on the basis of plan which was prepared so that I can
achieve the outcome of the same. I am a strong believer that a team can be leaded by examples as
it makes more clear understanding of what I am trying to convey.
As while leading the Burberry and by also making all the 4-5 employees being guided in
my guidance, I gained a strong experience in all the sectors as it seems for me to generate a new
experience which will help me out for my future growth and career. While working in it I made
it easy for myself to critically evaluate and analyses all the situations through which the working
can be, made and it also lead me to make a better person in thinking in innovative approach. As,
by gaining the experience by following the transformational leadership style I gained much
better knowledge and experience in leading and maintaining all the basic and some important
innovative thinking and approach. This generated in me a wideness in my perceptions and
thinking ability. And it also made to me to work with full motivation and to guide the team
members for something creative and innovative.

I am now able to manage all my problems to be analysed in proper manner and also
depicts and try to solve all the issues in most frequent time. I came to know about the patterns
and the method of working through which I can easily gain the habitually and also tend to
maintain the growth for the organization and society.
As working in Burberry it made me more confident about taking the better decisions for
my team and also to maintain all the nature and the methods in which I can analyses all the
issues and the compilations this developed a positivism and innovation in my thinking ability. I
got confidence in managing employees and making a better coordination with them. As it seems
to be difficult for me in the earlier phase.
I eventually able to grab Creative thinking skill at this time period, as I had got so much
of divergent thinking ability in the workplace areas and it made me to analyse all the methods
and the innovative techniques through which I can motivate y employees and also can make the
company to grow and develop their functionality and working.
As in this time period I am now also motivated to make the problem solving skill
developed in ,my behaviour. As earlier I feel difficult to solve the issues and the problems related
to work and nature but at this time I am now able to make the work to be made with a positive
approach and I can now think practically without any worry in making any work to be solved or
finding any solution to problems. I can now deal with all such problems with patience and
calmness.
I also realised that there are some skills which are needed to be developed in me as I lack
in some of he major regions and that will help me out for future growth and solutions they are
like: Time management skill- I need to develop the time management in my behaviour as I am
weak in managing time and also in maintaining the proper management of work. And this
is most important for my future growth and working. I will try to make schedules through
which I will try to do all the important work on timely manner. I will prioritize all my
most important and least important work in proper manner so that their will not be
wastage of time in my personal region or nature. And will ask my seniors and elders
about the regular feedback through which I will be able to know my growth, as this
serves to an important skill which is needed in all persons.

 Communication skill- I want to generate and make my communication skills much
stronger then before. As it is important to be confident while talking to all the individual
as to maintains and make me to work in confident manner. I feel stressed at times when
trying to interact with so many individuals, so it is important for me to develop this skill
and it can be generated by joining different sessions of interactions and group
discussions. And a proper feedback can be taken from my seniors in order to know my
growth in communication. It is important to make the communication better and also to
generate better vocal and written communication for making the growth in m,y
personality and behaviour. Decision making skill- This is the implemented skill which can be made in proper
manner and I need to develop this as I am not confident in making or taking proper
decision. And for gaining the higher position and fro working in big organisation it is
important to maintain the decision making process as that will help out to make the
growth and development and also frame the methods in working. I can develop this skill
by joining some workshops which will guide me about the methods in which I can take
better decisions and also by analysing my behaviour and the thinking extent for the
projects.
 IT Skill- As in order to work in the company it is important to work with all the
individuals and to maintain the growth and IT is nowadays most important areas. I am
weak in all the IT skills as I have no knowledge about all the presentation making and
using different software or it, as fir now it is the most important thing as most of the work
use to be made on it. I can develop this skill by joining a course and by taking proper
classes for gaining this skill.
Thus, In order to be a better leader my experience will help me in future and I will try to
make my skills being more enhanced with time.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from this report that leaders play an important role in the organization as
they have the ability to influence others. There are different leadership theories and styles which
can be opted by an individual in order to enhance the success of company which includes
situational leadership, behavioural, transformational, etc. These theories and styles defines the
way a leader behaves, guides and direct its team. There are important skills which are required
by the leader which includes IT skills, communication, creativity skill, problem solving, decision
making and many others.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ayman, R. and Lauritsen, M., 2018. Contingencies, context, situation, and leadership.
Kaluza, A.J., and et. al., 2020. Leadership behaviour and leader self-reported well-being: A
review, integration and meta-analytic examination. Work & Stress, 34(1), pp.34-56.
Oc, B., 2018. Contextual leadership: A systematic review of how contextual factors shape
leadership and its outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), pp.218-235.
Ospina, S.M., and et. al., 2020. Collective dimensions of leadership: Connecting theory and
method. Human Relations, 73(4), pp.441-463.'
Park, S. and Kim, E.J., 2018. Fostering organizational learning through leadership and
knowledge sharing. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Uhl-Bien, M. and Arena, M., 2017. Complexity leadership: enabling people and organizations
for adaptability. Organizational Dynamics.
van Knippenberg, D. and van Ginkel, W.P., 2021. A diversity mindset perspective on inclusive
leadership. Group & Organization Management, p.1059601121997229.
Zaim, H., Demir, A. and Budur, T., 2021. Ethical leadership, effectiveness and team
performance: An Islamic perspective. Middle East Journal of Management, 8(1), pp.42-
66.

APPENDICE
What are my
leadership
development
objectives?
What leadership
activities I need to
undertake to achieve
that objective?
Where will I develop
my leadership to
achieve the leadership
objectives?
Target date for
achieving my
objectives?
To improve Time
management skill
I need to make proper
schedules for the
important and least
important work.
At my workplace 01/09/21
To develop IT skill I can join classes and
course of proper
training in IT field.
At the IT Classes 01/12/21
To improve
Communication Skill
I need to make better
communication and try
to make a proper
confident verbal group
discussion to enhance
it.
At workplace 01/10/21
To develop Decision
making skill
I need to take guidance
from superiors about
making the best
alternative approach in
decision making.
At workplace 01/10/21