Leadership Theories and Organizational Behavior in Leading Business Organizations

This document discusses the importance of leadership theories and organizational behavior in leading business organizations. It explores the contribution of leaders and stakeholders to executing mission and vision, the ability to apply leadership strategies, and the range of motivational theories. The document also critically evaluates the leadership style of Kevin Johnson, CEO of Starbucks, and provides recommendations for success.

LEADING
BUSINESS
ORGANIZATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Why leaders need to have understanding of the leadership theories and organizational
behavior.......................................................................................................................................3
Contribution of leader and stakeholders to executing Mission and vision.................................4
Description of the ability to apply leadership strategies.............................................................5
Critically evaluate the range of the motivational theories..........................................................5
Complete the potential leadership style......................................................................................6
PART 2............................................................................................................................................7
Introduction.................................................................................................................................7
B) Overview of The ‘Servant’ Leadership Style.........................................................................7
C) Critical evaluation of Kevin Johnson’s leadership style........................................................8
D) Why does Johnson have such a strong personal brand as an effective global leader?..........9
E) Recommendation..................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Leading Business organization is the firm which had leads in marketplace with the amazing
competition with the rivals. Beside all these company had builded up the brand image in the
market for their consumers. The business who is very successful could have a successful brand
image among customers.
Starbucks Corporations is American company of coffee and chain of the coffee house. It
was established in Seattle, Washington in 1971. It is operated in more than 30,000 places
globally. Company is major representative of “second wave coffee” which is popular artisanal
coffee. The founder of the Starbucks are Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl. The
CEO of company is Kevin Johnson who had joined the company in 2009. Above report include
the overview of 'servant' leadership style and several challenges which are related with uncertain,
volatile, ambiguous and complex business environment of company. The critical evaluation of
Kevin Johnson's leadership style along with focusing on Starbucks enhanced financial
performance ad ethical challenges which is faced by the company. Study carried forward with
how Johnson had developed strong personal brand as the effective global leader. The report ends
with the recommendations that how Johnson can build current success and maintain the
company's competitive advantage and success.
MAIN BODY
PART 1
Why leaders need to have understanding of the leadership theories and organizational behavior
A.
There are two fundamental question which leaders should ask themselves is , do I spend
enough time with my team members or not and second question they should ask themselves is,
who have potential to replace me, or they are ready for this or not.
B.
In my opinion two aspects of the leadership are- understanding and effective
communication. It is important for the leaders to have effective understanding of their team
members, and they should listen to their problems and effective communication can help leader
to provide proper information to their team members, so they can give their best in task.
C.

Leadership theories are commonly distributes by the which aspect is believed to define
the leader the most (Antonakis and Day., 2017). This help them to use those theories which can
help them to achieve their goals and objectives. There are some famous leadership styles are
Transformation, democratic leadership Etc.
D.
According to there are two leadership styles which are appropriate for the current VUCA
business environment are democratic leadership styles and Servant leadership style, this both can
be the best example of the VUCA environment.
E.
It is impotent for the leaders to have knowledge about the leadership styles, so they can
understand the situation in the workplace, and they can lead their team member to achieve their
business gals, and they can motivate them top achieve those objectives and goals so company
can be successful.
Contribution of leader and stakeholders to executing Mission and vision
A.
Mission is a statement which defines the company’s business and their objectives and
companies approaches to reach those objectives and vision of the companies defines that what
they want to achieve in the futures.
B.
An individual employee of the company gives their best toward the task, and they try to
achieve all objectives and goals so company can be successful, and they can achieve high growth
in the market. If they will not give their best in the task, then company cannot be successful in
their business.
C.
Leaders have huge contribution to executing the companies vision and mission (Conger.,
2015). They make strategies to achieve all the vision objectives of the company, and they do
future forecast, so they can achieve the upcoming opportunities for the company so company can
achieve growth, and they can become successful.
D.

Stakeholders of the company have equal contribution in the company’s mission and
vision. Employees run the operations, leader’s leader the employees and make aims, manager of
the company provide proper guidance to the employees, so they can perform well in the task.
E.
They lead whole team, and they have main contribution in the company’s vision and
mission, so they have to solve all the problem of the employees, and they have to keep motivate
them, so they can give their contribution. Leaders are inspiration for the other team members,
and they are depended on the leaders.
Description of the ability to apply leadership strategies.
A. Leadership strategy is termed out as the map that align investment in the development of the
leadership with plan of action and objectives. It is term that encompasses the needs of talent,
organization design and culture that needs to be effective.
B. Change leadership is termed out as the ability that influence others with help of personal
advocacy, to set out the vision to build the platform for change.
C. Organization potential tool is termed out as to design that mainly designed for the leader to
bring out the best within the employees.
D. Business context termed out as the encompasses of the components that impacts the business
from varied perspective.
E. By aspiring the leaders towards to attend the goals and objectives of the enterprise helps to
carry out the business activities in effective and efficient mode.
Critically evaluate the range of the motivational theories.
A. Motivation theories termed out as things that provide the great understanding of how an
individual need to behave and what highly motivates them to conduct proper functioning within
the enterprise. These are mainly for the encouraging individuals to perform their best.
B. The motivation theories categorised as intrinsic, extrinsic, reward based, advancement based
and competency motivation.

C. The contemporary term of employee motivation is termed out as process that is based on
perception of individual and also with the term that how the employees within the enterprise
needs to be treated fairly.
D. ‘Appreciative inquiry technique’ termed out as the change management approach that
consider over identifying what is working effectively and to analysing why it is working well
then doing more of it. This is positive approach to leadership development and organisational
change.
E. The leader to the enterprise needs to use motivational theories to encourage the leaders to
perform their best within the enterprise. It can be one of the effective way to stimulate the
business function in effective and efficient manner.
Complete the potential leadership style.
A. I think that I am effective in transformation leadership style as I have effective innovative
approach to carry out the entire activities within the enterprise. This leadership will be helpful to
undertake the organizational task effectively.
B. I think my biggest strength is communication skill as this aids me to communicate with the
individuals within the enterprise. This led me to interact with each individual and this also helps
me to handle the level of complexity also provide ease in managerial working.
C. According to me, one of the core challenges of mine is time management. I am not effective
in this, as I am not able to handle more than one task at a time. This is one of core thing that has
huge impact on my professional career.
D. To bring out the personal development, I need to take initiatives towards to maintain
managerial skill as well time management. These both can aid me to undertake the activities
effectively and appropriately. For time management, I will priorities the task as per the suitability
of task and will try to complete the work according to given deadline.

PART 2
Introduction
Leadership aspect is critical in the evaluation of the success of the business as well as in
determining the implementation of different leadership strategies. These have a crucial impact on
the business strategies thus developed which show that in order to develop correct business
strategies, it is necessary to implement correct actions. In this section, a report will be developed
evaluating the application of different leadership styles that are being used by leaders. Further,
the report will identify and analyse the leadership style implemented by Kevin Johnson who is
the CEO and president of Starbucks and provide appropriate recommendations. Starbucks has its
branches operating in all parts of the world and therefore it often becomes difficult to develop
policies in accordance with all the sections of the world and through this the company tends to
develop those leadership strategies that can help them in coping up with all the situations.
B) Overview of The ‘Servant’ Leadership Style
Servant leadership style is the philosophical styles of the leaders in which the traditional
methods are used. The main objective of the styles is to do the work of the main head and also
follow the orders. The main objective of the leader in this style is to facilitate the operations of
the organization so that the objectives of the business organization can be achieved effectively
(Johnson, 2019).
The leader also helps to provide the policies which will help the employees to be gather
support by the leaders in increase the efficiency of doing the operations in the organization. It
also helps the role to provide the skills and knowledge to the employees which will help them to
increase the decision-making skills and efficiency in doing the task. These styles have many
challenges which make the styles ineffective in the organization.
 The leadership style has the contrary actions of the traditional organization as the leaders
in the organization have to make effective decision and the traditional organization does
not allow the employees to get motivated or allow top participate in the decision-making
of the organization which also discourager the employees to work in the organization and
increases the turnover ratio (Welty Peachey and et.al., 2018).

 The Servant leadership styles also deceases the efficiency of the management as the
leaders in the organization discourages the magnet to communicate with the employees
and also decreases the efficiency of the organization as a whole.
 This leadership style cannot be adopted in every organization as it have many challenges
and it can also increase the CST of the organization which will make them inefficient to
compete in the market.
 Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln are the very famous names which were the servant
leaders and also increased the protests of their times very volition way to increase the
quantity of the protests.
 It also creates the danger of over commitment and if the commitment is not fulfilled then
it will also discourage the followers to understand the leader, and they will also hate the
leader without even listening.
 The attitude of the employees and the followers is very important in the efficiency of the
servant leadership but in reality it is very difficult for the leader to control the behaviour
and the attitudes of the employees or the followers which will make the organization
inefficient and also decrease the quality of the organization (Bang and Bang, 2017).
C) Critical evaluation of Kevin Johnson’s leadership style
Servant leadership style states that the main aim of the leader is to serve. This is not
similar to the traditional leadership style there the focus of leader is on thriving their company.
Leaders who possess the abilities and comes under this type of leadership such as Kevin Johnson
believes in sharing their power, fulfilling the needs of employees before completing the task and
helps in development of skills of people so that they can enhance their skills and work up to their
potential. This type of leadership has a main priority which is to serve the customers and their
associates first. This style of leadership is opposite from other forms in this style leader serves
the people rather than people in the company serving him. When leaders of the company shift
their aim the employees of Starbucks get the benefit, and they grow in personal aspects. It helps
the company to grow and with that they grow the engagement of employees regarding work
increases.
Employee life-

This type of leadership throws an impact and have an effect on employee's life outside
the company. It states that employees enhance their abilities and perception where there family
matters are concerned. It helps in reducing the stress so that they can focus on improving the
performance of the company. Apart from this it helps them to play an ethical role in Starbucks
which has positive experience and helps to create a work environment that helps to satisfy the
whole team of the company. Additionally, by the implementation of Servant leadership style by
Kevin Johnson has assisted in reducing the emotional factor of employees which was considered
as one of the major factor and causes which leads to their burnout. Ultimately, it has reduced the
feeling of getting drained at work (Mahon, 2016).
Job Performance-
This style of leadership helps Starbucks to achieve goals of the company which leads to
success and growth. The goal of the leader is to work on enhancing their skills so that they can
prepare their team to get better results and influence them to be a better person. So that they can
work in the company by following all the ethical values. Leaders of the company handle all the
aspects such as completion of work before deadline, getting reward for them which creates a
positive influence and satisfies the employees so that they can evaluate their performance. This
helps the employees of the company gain a positive effect in the aspect of psychological health
which reduces the strain that they feel while working in the company. According to research it
has been observed that many companies use a top down approach which is not effective. Leaders
of the company must prioritize their work first then they must look for the employees of the
company so that they can be more engaged in their work. The servant leadership style
implemented by Kevin Johnson in Starbucks is considered as bottom up style which states that
prioritize the needs of the employees and gaining the social support from their colleagues at
work. (Ackroyd, 2016.)
D) Why does Johnson have such a strong personal brand as an effective global leader?
This can be explained with the ocean model for why the company is the strong personal
brand and the components which are required are consciousness, extraversion, agreeableness,
openness and extraversion. These are few of the traits which are required in a person so that there
is a success in the business they are doing so that there is a better understanding of this topic
(Johnson, 2015).

Kevin Johnson is having these factors therefore he is doing so good in this business and
that factor that he has a lot of experience in the market therefore is being able to make the
decisions for the company so well. Kevin is very interested in knowing different things in the
business world and is the one who likes to explore them as well and that is a very important
factor. The personality of the person speaks a lot and Kevin Johnson is having a great personality
which is why he is being able to capture such a large market through Starbucks in the market.
Kevin purchases the best of quality of coffee beans for a cheap price and then selling the
coffee at a high rate is what Kevin is doing in the company and the customers are willing to pay
because there is a trust the customers have on the company that the best of quality is reaching
them. There is a vision the company is sharing with everyone and there is a sense of openness
which is present as well which is making the company have a lot of support for the company to
rise up (Williams and Denney, 2016). There are a lot of coffee houses in the world but still
Starbucks has captured its place in the market because they are providing the customers with
what they want which is the best of services and products. Standard of the customers have to be
met by the company because Kevin Johnson understood the needs and demands of the customers
and only then started this company after understanding that factor which has made it easier for
the company to have a and a faster way to get into the market.
The decisions and all the steps regarding the company are being taken in full
consciousness because that is a very important factor so the company to over come which is the
problems the company is having but having experience in the company and other companies
Kevin knows exactly what he has to do and therefore the company has expanded itself in a lot of
countries and that is making the company being accepted in all the countries it has expanded it.
There is clarity of the direction this company wanting to go in as well so that the customers and
the stakeholders know them as well and not just the customers. The company has faced the worst
and the best but the company is still trying new methods to make the company work even better
than they already are in the market. There are a lot of measures which the company is taking care
of so that the company can continue to work efficiently and effectively. The employees are being
treated fairly as well in the company so that there are no factors in the company which will
become a problem later in the functioning of the company (Everitt, 2018). Kevin Johnson is
making the process of the company to be the best in the market easier because of the people he
has under him are in control and making sure that his experience in the previous job is coming

into use which will help the company to function. Overall, the personality of Kevin can be
categorised into following five segments through the implementation of OCEAN Model that
assists in identification of the personality (Johnson, 2015). This can be implemented in following
manner:
 Openness: The openness can be applied in order to evaluate that how open their thinking
is and how imaginative or creative they can get in order to develop newer ideas. This is
contrasted with the abstractness or closeness that people have in their thinking. Kevin is
more inclined towards openness to new features.
 Conscientiousness: When a person is high on the contentiousness aspect, they are
extremely disciplined regarding their work and like to put efforts regarding the detail
planning that is required in order to complete the tasks (Everitt, 2018). These are opposed
to the persons who possess more of an impulsive nature while deciding things. Kevin has
always been contentious towards the decision that he takes for the company.
 Extraversion: Extroverts are pitted against introverts through this trait and Kevin is a
core extrovert which has enabled him in establishing such a vast business of the entire
Starbucks company.
 Agreeableness: Agreeable people are those who are sociable and empathetic as opposed
to the ones who are not so helpful and supportive (Bang and Bang, 2017). Kevin, despite
being the CEO always looks out for other people which makes him extremely agreeable
with other people.
 Neuroticism: People who are high on the score of neuroticism face constant sulkiness
and they are very self-centred as opposed to people who are emotionally stable and can
adjust with people in every situation that can arise. Kevin is a friendly person who is
extremely low on the neuroticism aspect.
E) Recommendation
Johnson should focus on the sustainability as well as CSR for improving its success and
for gaining the competitive advantage. As more and more customers have now become oriented
towards the environment and wants sustainability in each and every aspect thus Johnson should
focus on the building the sustainable products. For example- instead of serving the drinks in

plastic made cups and products, the company should shift its focus towards paper made products
or other substitute of the paper (Laszlo and Zhexembayeva, 2017). This will help the company to
attract more and more customers and thus contribute towards the environment. In the similar
way, Johnson should build its image and increase the brand recognition by complying to the
various environment laws and regulations. For example- the company should endeavour to create
strategies which will eventually reduce the emission of energy and harmful gases during
production of various products. The company should tend to enhance its goodwill by
concentrating on greener stores where the tables as well as the chairs should be eco-friendly that
is made of environment friendly wood. Along with this, the company should invest their
resources as well as money in greener energy by reducing the environmental impact and thus
using the source of renewable energy within their outlets. Hence, Johnson should focus on the
effective sustainability while maintaining its world-class quality. By shifting its focus towards
the CSR, company will gain more competitive advantage and this will ultimately help to
establish the position market (Dubey and et.al.,2017).
Another step which Johnson should take to maintain the market share and continue to
survive in the cut-throat competition is adapting to the changing technology. Nowadays, the
entire world have become technology-oriented and wants to visit the outlets that integrates
technology in their products to provide high class quality. Thus, in this changing scenario,
Johnson should concentrate more on the technological advancement which will help the
Starbucks to maintain its competitive advantage. For example- Starbucks should make of self-
order kiosk in their outlet where the customers can make their own meal package as well as
choose their ingredient that will go in meal. This will help them top have their delicious food as
per their need. Besides this, company should also have kitchen display window which will show
their customers the wasting time as well as order processing time. Thus, having the latest
technology in the outlet becomes highly important for Johnson in order to entice the customers
and building their brand image (Noe and et.al.,2017). The company should continuously explore
the various new technologies that will assist them to maintain their functions smoothly and
conducting their operation well-through. In order to apply this technology effectively, Johnson
should train its employees on how effectively it can be used for leaving a great image within
minds and hearts of consumers. Besides the training, company should also make their employees

aware of what favourable outcome this technology will bring for the company as well as for
entire staff.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that yes Johnson had an effective role model
for the aspiring leaders. The Johnson had performed and implement the leadership style in such a
manner that the successful business is being developed. The effective leadership strategies and
practice are used by Johnson which is helpful for company in gaining he competitive advantage
ion the marketplace. The company could easily gain huge profit margin during the recent years
and the staff turnover of company has also been raised with the effective leadership styles of the
Johnson. The effective role has been played by Johnson in growth and development of company
which have been noticed by the significant hike in profits and revenues of company. They also
emphasis on the customer's expectation, needs and demands so that they can satisfy their
consumer and maintains huge consumer loyal trust towards the company. The CEO had also
encouraged and motivated their employees for keeping the good work ahead and thus the
employees aims at rendering quality work for the company. They used to communicate and
interact with their employees on daily basis and try to solve their problems on their level so that
their employee feel valued. They are very confident and had good communication skills. The try
innovation and inundation in their company's operations and functions. So the company has been
grown steadily. Company had grown due to the positive attitude of the Johnson who keeps on
moving froward and keep on working and implementing innovation in their company which is
helpful for them in keeping their company to compete with rivals. Establishing the uniqueness of
company among its rivals and maintains the huge competition in the marketplace.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Ackroyd, S., 2016. Sociological and organisational theories of professions and professionalism.
In The routledge companion to the professions and professionalism (pp. 33-48).
Routledge.
Bang, N.H. and Bang, Y.T., 2017. The Effects of Servant Leadership on Subordinates' Trust in
Leader and Job Engagement: A Suggestion for Context-Specific Leadership. Journal of
Service Research and Studies. 7(4). pp.83-107.
Dubey, R and et.al.,2017. Can big data and predictive analytics improve social and
environmental sustainability?. Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Everitt, A., 2018. The rise of social purpose and its impact on brand success. Journal of Digital
& Social Media Marketing. 6(3). pp.221-227.
Johnson, K.D., 2015. The Entrepreneur Mind. Jaico Publishing House.
Johnson, K.W., 2019. Planning and Preparation.
Laszlo, C. and Zhexembayeva, N., 2017. Embedded sustainability. In Embedded Sustainability
(pp. 116-140). Routledge.
Mahon, E., 2016. More Than a Caring Personality: Factors Affecting Staff Retention in Non
Profit Organisations in Ireland.
Noe, R.A and et.al.,2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Welty Peachey, J and et.al., 2018. Exploring servant leadership and needs satisfaction in the
sport for development and peace context. Journal of Sport Management. 32(2). pp.96-
108.
Williams, P. and Denney, J., 2016. Leadership Excellence: The Seven Sides of Leadership for
the 21st Century--Updated and Expanded Edition. Barbour Publishing.
Antonakis, J. and Day, D. V. eds., 2017. The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Conger, J., 2015. Charismatic leadership. Wiley encyclopedia of management, pp.1-2.