Leadership Styles & Management Practices of Tesco

Context of Business Individual
Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
1.History, summary and the rationale of the business of an enterprise.......................................1
2.Discussion of the vision, management practices, leadership styles and several strategies of
the organization...........................................................................................................................2
3.Analyzing the above strategies' execution or implementation in the company.......................3
4.Recommendation on the improvement in the management practices, strategies and the
leadership styles..........................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Business report means the document that contains the information organized in the graphic,
tabular form, narrative in an orderly manner. It is prepared with the objective of communicating
the factual information regarding the management of the business and that serves the purpose of
the business. The present study is based on the Tesco, a global merchandise and groceries
company which function its business as the retailer deals in a variety of products. Furthermore,
the report includes the history and rationale of the enterprise. It also describes the leadership
styles, strategies and management practices of the company with application of the theories and
principles. The recommendations in relation to the improvement in management practices and
leadership styles are also included in this report.
TASK
1.History, summary and the rationale of the business of an enterprise.
Tesco begin its life in 1919 when the Jack Cohen started selling groceries in surplus from
the stall in East End of the London. On the first day of selling, Mr Cohen earns a profit of £1
from the revenue of £4. The brand of the Tesco firstly introduced in 1924, When tea shipment
was bought by him from T.E Stock well. The letters and the initials of the Tesco were formed in
1929, when Mr Cohen opened store of Tesco in the Burnt Oak in North London. The brand
consistently results in rising business in the 1930s at the time when Headquarters and the
warehouses were built by Mr Cohen in the North London. Tesco in 1932, became the private
company. The share price of the company floated on exchange with the amount of 25 p. During
the 1960s, the rapid expansion of the supermarkets was started by selling the more range of
products in the larger stores. In the 1961 the name of the brand was entered into the Guinness
book as the record of the largest store in the Europe (Thiessen, 2019.). The first superstore
opened by the Tesco in Crawley in the 1968 at West Sussex. The Supermarkets changed the way
of buying of the people and the company to cover the whole UK builds a network of national
store, which leads to an continuous expansion and diversification into its other range of products.
In the 1974, it became the first leading petrol retailer in the UK with the opening of its first
station of the petrol. The total of sales topped to £1 billion by the 1979 and the sales resulted as
doubled in 1982 more than to £2 billion. In the 1987, the corporate moved to corporate
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restructuring by successfully taking over the supermarket of the rival Hillards for the amount of
£220 million. With opening of more and more stores and with the marketing campaign, Tesco
had tightened its grip in attempt for overtaking the leading grocer of the UK known as Sainsbury.
In the 1992, the slogan was launched by the company as ' Every little helps', act as the value
range of the Tesco in the 1993. This value range was followed with the launch of the scheme
called Tesco Clubcard in 1995, that enables the company in successful takeover of its rivalry that
is Sainsbury, a leading retailer of food in UK. After that it had been successfully running its
business till 2014 and then faces some decline in the sales.
2.Discussion of the vision, management practices, leadership styles and several strategies of the
organization.
Vision- Tesco vision contains 5 elements that describes sort of the organization it aspires
to become. These elements include-
To act as the largest global company across the world.
A business with growing market value and with ample of opportunities.
Operating as a modern, creative and innovative brand across the globe.
Attaining the winners position by applying the potential and best of their skills worldwide.
Inspiring and building the trust, loyalty from the customers, communities and their colleagues.
Management practices- Referring the Henry Fayol, it is presented that Tesco has
followed various concepts of the theory such as Work division principle where the task is
divided as per the specialized skills of the employees in several areas for increasing the
productivity with promotion of the specialization and efficiency in the workforce. All the
employees of the company works in the same direction to achieve the organizational goals
relating to the principle of unity of the direction (Donate and de Pablo, 2015). The activities
followed with the action plan and the work is performed as per the planned and the defined
activities by the managers of the Tesco. The principle of Discipline is also adopted by the firm
which states that the core values of vision and the mission in context of conducting the business
with the respectful interactions is of great importance. This enables the organization in smooth
functioning of its business.
Leadership styles- The management of Tesco has adapted different kinds of leadership
styles that includes democratic leadership style which also called as the participant style where
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the workers and employees raise their opinions at the time of decision making (Lewis, 2019).
This leadership style motivates the staff of the Tesco so that enterprise consistently resulting
better in providing the good services to the customers. With reference to the leadership theories,
Tesco has adopted transformational theory where the leaders of the organization are visionary,
risk-takers, inspiring, thoughtful and daring (Alonso‐Almeida, Perramon and Bagur‐Femenias,
2017). It also follows the trait theory of leadership which states the behavioral characteristics of
the leaders that correct qualities and the traits are present in the leaders of the Tesco which best
suited to the performance of the enterprise.
Strategies- Tesco develops its products and its overall market in the UK with different
strategies in terms of the Ansoff matrix. Market penetration strategy is adopted by the firm by
setting the low price of its product for capturing the huge market share across the globe. This
strategy is found as less risky as compared to other as it revalues the existing resources and
capabilities of the company (Odoardi and et.al., 2015). For maintaining the market share in the
growing market, this strategy indicated the growth and increased opportunities for the business
of the corporate. Diversification strategy is also followed by the Tesco where the firm has
diversified its product range not only in the groceries but also in the petrol sector for developing
the new market with the new product. Though, this strategy has been considered as the most
risky as it needs the development of both product and the market. For Tesco, this strategy was
counted as reasonable as high returns were generated and it leads the firm in gaining higher
profitability. Market development strategy of the Tesco states that the new market segments has
been focused by the brand across different geographical location so that growth in the sales of
the existing product could seek into new market by the corporate.
3.Analyzing the above strategies' execution or implementation in the company.
Participative leadership style followed by the Tesco executed or implemented by
organizing the meeting for the employees and sharing the information which is important for the
workers like company' economic status (Shamim, Cang, Yu and Li, Y., 2016, July). By
providing training to them for raising their skill level and offering them with several kinds of
opportunities that enables them to apply their new skills for making the best decision for the
overall organization. The strategies such as penetration, market development, diversification etc.
are executed effectively with organizational development. For instance- developing the
professionalism and specialization by training the employees. Optimum utilization of the
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resources are crucial for better implementation of the strategy. For example- proper planning of
the event and expenses associated to that event should be traced appropriately so that less
wastage and cost control can be ascertained. Formulating the policies that provide for better
support to the strategy. For example- Improvement in the human resources' policy helps in
determining the right strategy for the kind of training needed so that best of their potential can be
attained for reaching to the vision of the Tesco.
The management practices must be implemented effectively for reaching the successful growth
in the worldwide market for the Tesco. Practice of division of work assures the corporate in
timely completion of the task and timely delivery to their customers. For example- High order
for delivering the fresh food a day can only be fulfilled by dividing the work among the
employees as per the different region (Amanchukwu, Stanley and Ololube, 2015). Practice of
unity of direction within the work environment can be build by fulfilling the motivational needs
of the workers so that they work with high morale and satisfaction. Practice of discipline
established by facilitating proper supervision at each and every level with clearly guiding and
explaining the policies and procedures.
4.Recommendation on the improvement in the management practices, strategies and the
leadership styles.
There are several management practices, leadership styles and the strategies that should
be undertaken by the Tesco for growing its business with stability and sustainability.
Management practices includes Reward effort where employees should be rewarded for their
efforts and the achievements for meeting the target and for performing beyond the standard level
so that high morale and efficiency in the work can be attained. Tesco should stay committed as it
acts as the best management practice which means that committing towards the initiative of team
by creating such atmosphere where the conflicts are welcomed and not feared due to the
differing opinions which in turn helps in shaping the goal of the enterprise with clarity. Cultural
cohesiveness should be created in the work environment as well as in the outside environment so
that a sense of belonging and share values can be attained (Shah and Aman, 2019). This practice
of management assist the organization in making the new hires on the basis of the alignment in
terms of the core values and vision of the company as staff working with shared values results in
making an effective team.
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Tesco need to constantly focus on developing the strategies for increasing the revenue and for
operating the business with more efficiency so that higher profitability can be gained by the
enterprise. Growth in the strategy made should be anticipated by consistently monitoring the
trends in the industry such as new probable customers groups and the existing customers for
selling its products and services so that large customer base could be reached by the Tesco in the
overall market (White and et.al., 2019). Company should always seek for new products and
services that the customer demands and look for new distribution network that serve quick and
delivery for their customers. Managing the expenditure plays a crucial role while developing and
implementing the strategy as it tells about the success and failure of the business. Searching for
the low cost suppliers so that money can be saved and facilitating effective training to the
employees also helps the firm in controlling the expenses which leads to improvement in the
revenue and the sales. Long range planning should be considered for making the better strategy
as company evolves continually only when it growth and the improvement occurs in the business
(Nayani and et.al., 2018). Aims like setting up of new technology for entering into the
international market with competency and competitive edge.
Reflection is the best way for improving the leadership style. Time taken whole day to reflect
even when it is the task of 10 minutes can improve the skills of the workers. Listening to the
employees is one of the good trait of leadership style. A leader is good when it takes suggestions
from its workers and generates decision by reacting fairly lead to betterment for everyone present
in the organization with the achievement of the goal effectively and optimally.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that, management of the business activities enables the
Tesco in making the business decisions and can concentrate on the constant changes to remain in
the business with sustainability and growth in the long run. Effective leadership styles and
strategies adopted by the Tesco leads to the efficient implementation of the vision and mission of
the organization. It provides for formulation of the strategy and its implementation with
competency. For the achievement of the strategic competitiveness and for generating the higher
returns for attaining a successful growth of the business across the world.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Thiessen, J., 2019. The Narrative Turn, Corporate Storytelling, and Oral History: Canada’s
Petroleum Oral History Project and Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action No.
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Donate, M. J. and de Pablo, J. D. S., 2015. The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in
knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research. 68(2). pp.360-
370.
Lavoie‐Tremblay, M. and et.al., 2016. Transformational and abusive leadership practices:
impacts on novice nurses, quality of care and intention to leave. Journal of advanced
nursing. 72(3). pp.582-592.
Alonso‐Almeida, M. D. M., Perramon, J. and Bagur‐Femenias, L., 2017. Leadership styles and
corporate social responsibility management: Analysis from a gender perspective. Business
Ethics: A European Review. 26(2). pp.147-161.
Odoardi, C. and et.al., 2015. Linking managerial practices and leadership style to innovative
work behavior: The role of group and psychological processes. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal. 36(5). pp.545-569.
Shamim, S., Cang, S., Yu, H. and Li, Y., 2016, July. Management approaches for Industry 4.0: A
human resource management perspective. In 2016 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation
(CEC) (pp. 5309-5316). IEEE.
Amanchukwu, R. N., Stanley, G. J. and Ololube, N. P., 2015. A review of leadership theories,
principles and styles and their relevance to educational management. Management. 5(1). pp.6-14.
Shah, M. and Aman, Q., 2019. The impact of human resource management practices on
leadership styles: The mediating role of employee trust. City University Research Journal. 9(1).
pp.58-71.
Nayani, R. J. and et.al., 2018. Out of sight and out of mind? A literature review of occupational
safety and health leadership and management of distributed workers. Work & Stress. 32(2).
pp.124-146.
White, B. A. A. and et.al., 2019, January. A leadership education framework addressing
relationship management, burnout, and team trust. In Baylor University Medical Center
Proceedings (pp. 1-3). Taylor & Francis.
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Lewis, J. K., 2019. Change Leadership Styles and Behaviors in Academic Libraries. In Advanced
Methodologies and Technologies in Library Science, Information Management, and Scholarly
Inquiry (pp. 439-450). IGI Global.
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