Leadership Theories and Strategies for Aspiring Leaders

This document discusses various aspects of leadership for aspiring leaders, including understanding leadership theories, evaluating the contribution of individuals and stakeholders, applying appropriate leadership strategies, evaluating motivational theories, and exploring potential leadership styles. The content provides insights into the importance of leadership in a dynamic business environment and offers recommendations for aspiring leaders.

LEADING BUSINESS
ORGANIZATION
STUDENT GUIDELINES

TABLE OF CONTENTS
REFLECTIVE STATEMENT.........................................................................................................3
Understanding of leadership theories for aspiring leader.......................................................3
Evaluation of contribution of individuals, leaders and stakeholders in achieving mission and
vision by aspiring leader.........................................................................................................3
Ability of applying appropriate leadership strategies by aspiring leader...............................4
Evaluation of range of motivational theories.........................................................................4
Potential leadership style........................................................................................................5
MANAGEMENT REPORT............................................................................................................5
Introduction............................................................................................................................5
Servant leadership..................................................................................................................5
Critical evaluation of Kevin Johnson leadership....................................................................6
Personal brand of Kevin Johnson...........................................................................................8
Recommendation....................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
Understanding of leadership theories for aspiring leader
Two fundamental question- the two major question which need to be asked by the leader
from themselves is that whether they have proper skills and abilities to handle so many people at
a single time or not (Doppelt, 2017). The other question they need to ask to themselves is that
whether the leadership style which they are using is correct or not.
Two aspect of leadership- the major two key aspect of leadership is that the leader must
be honest and must have a clear vision and foresightedness. These two aspects are very necessary
because of the fact that if leader will not be honest then the work will not be accomplished as
intended. Also, if there is no vision then the employees will not have direction to work and
accomplish the vision or mission of the company.
Leadership theory- the leadership theory or style is defined as the different ways in
which the leader can perform the task. these are some pre- established style which can be applied
in particular situation for leading the situation in successful manner.
Two theory applicable in VUCA environment- The two most appropriate leadership
style for the VUCA business environment is servant leadership and laissez faire leadership style.
Need for aspiring leader to have knowledge of leadership styles- the business
environment is very dynamic and ever changing so it is very necessary for the aspiring leader to
understand these leadership style. This is necessary because of the fact that this will assist the
leader to have knowledge that which style will best suit the current situation.
Evaluation of contribution of individuals, leaders and stakeholders in achieving mission and
vision by aspiring leader
Mission and vision of company- these are the main agenda for which the company is
working. The vision is the ultimate goal which the company wants to achieve. The mission are
the small objectives or the aims which are being made to achieve the vision of the company.
Contribution of individual- the individual are the employees who contributes a major
part in the accomplishment of the vision and mission of the company (Mahon, ed., 2016). This is
majorly due to the reason that the employees are the one who actually work for the company. If
they will not work in expected manner then the mission and vision will not be achieved.

Contribution of leader- the leader plays an important role in the executing the mission
and vision of the company. This is majorly pertaining to the fact that they are the one who set the
vision and mission for the company. Thus, every work is done in accordance of the vision and
mission made by the leader (Priest and Gass, 2017).
Contribution of stakeholder- the stakeholders are the one which are interested in the
profits of the company. Thus, they help the company in achieving and executing the mission and
vision of the company.
Need for aspiring leader to evaluate contribution of these people- it is very crucial for
aspiring leader to learn about the mission and vision of the company because this will provide
the aspiring leader a direction to work.
Ability of applying appropriate leadership strategies by aspiring leader
Leadership strategy- this is defined as the strategy which the leader uses to deal with a
particular situation. It is very important for leader to make strategy as this will provide a way for
the employee to work.
Change leadership- this is the ability of the leader to influence and encourage other
people to accept the change in positive manner. This is essential leadership as this will help the
leader in promoting change for the betterment of the company.
Organizational potential- this is defined as the capacity or the ability of the company to
accept or reject the change or any other sort of difference in the working.
Business context- this is defined as the ability of the change that whether the change is
relevant to the company or not. In simple term is means that whether the changes are related to
the operations of the business or not.
Need for aspiring leader to learn and apply different leadership style- it is very
necessary for the aspiring leader to understand different leadership strategy and change
leadership as there are many changes within the environment. So, the leader must know which
change is relevant and which is not.
Evaluation of range of motivational theories
Motivation theory- these are some set process and policies which stimulates a person to
behave or act in a specified manner (Fletcher, 2017). These theories are helpful in increasing the
working of the company.

Categories of motivation theory- the two different categories of motivation are the
process theory and the content theory.
Employee motivation- this is defined as the act of stimulating an employee to act in a
specific manner in order to achieve the goals of the business.
Appreciative inquiry theory- this is a type of change management theory which is mainly
focussed in identifying what is going well and to maintain that factors. This is done so that the
work is accomplished in the intended manner (Hattie, 2015).
Need for aspiring leader to understand motivational theory- the motivation is the
essential thing which fosters the working quality and ability of any person. Thus, it is very
necessary for the aspiring leader to have knowledge of these motivational theories.
Potential leadership style
Covered in PPT
MANAGEMENT REPORT
Introduction
Leading the business is very necessary in this changing and dynamic business
environment. This is very necessary because of the reason that there are many changes taking
place in environment which may or may not be relevant to the company. Thus, here is the role of
the leader in managing the business in accordance with the change (Senge, Hamilton and Kania,
2015). The present report is based on the leadership style used by Kevin Johnson who is the CEO
of Starbucks.
This present report will start by the discussing the servant leadership style and the
challenges associated with this style. Further, the evaluation of the leadership style of Kevin
Johnson and various challenges and faced by him will be outlined. Next the discussion will be
made on the reason that why Johnson is having a strong personal brand as a global leader. In the
end the recommendation will be provided to the company for adding to the success of the
company.
Servant leadership
Meaning- servant leadership is the one which assumes that the effective leader are the
ones which serves to others instead of focusing on the power or the control over the things. This
is the leader which mainly focuses on the fulfilment of the needs and interest of the other people

(The art of servant leadership, 2018). They do not consider their own interest and only focuses
on the need of other only. This leader has many of the different characteristics and capabilities
which makes these leaders different form another. These characteristics are like active listening,
awareness, foresightedness, stewardship, commitment, communication, empathy and many
others which makes them different form the others.
Challenges associated at time of application of this leadership in VUCA environment
The business run in the environment which is very dynamic and changing and these
changes can be either positive and negative for the company (Collinson and Tourish, 2015). The
business environment is generally the type of VUCA which comprises of volatility, uncertainty,
complexity and ambiguity. Thus, there are many different challenges being faced by the servant
leader in dealing with these situations.
The major challenge associated with the application of servant leadership in VUCA
environment is that the process of decision making takes a lot of time (Figlewski and
Frommherz, 2017). This is majorly because of the reason that the servant leader thinks of all the
people within the company. thus, for understanding the need of all and analysing the impact of
the situation over the business and other stakeholder takes a lot of time.
Another challenge faced by servant leader in VUCA environment is decrease in the
managerial authority of the leader. This is majorly because of the reason that the leader mainly
focusses on the need of others and this leads to the minimization of the authority of the leader.
This is also due to the fact that when the employee see that the leader is taking care of the need
of the employee so they become less efficient to their work.
Also, another challenge which is faced at time of application of the servant leadership in
VUCA environment is that this can also demotivate the employee to work in more effective and
qualitative work. This is majorly because of the reason that if the employee is not working well
then also their needs are being catered and taken care of by the leader. Thus, if they do not work
properly then also their needs are being fulfilled so they become less motivated to work in
effective manner.
Critical evaluation of Kevin Johnson leadership
Evaluation of leadership style- Kevin Johnson is has a thirty year of experience that is
sixteen years in Microsoft and five years in Junipexteenr. In 2009, Johnson was appointed as the
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and president of the Starbucks. The leadership style used by

Kevin Johnson is the servant leadership style. This style of leadership is selected by Johnson
because of the fact that this leadership style caters to the need of each and every people
connected to the company. For this Johnson is taking many different measures to improve the
financial position of the company and for this they adopted the different financial discipline and
because of this the business will earn more profits and will return more to the shareholders. This
way the financial position of the company will increase and this will enhance the profitability of
the company (Spears and Lawrence, eds., 2016).
Positive impact of style- the positive impact of this style of leadership is that the this
focuses in the need fulfilment of all the people related to the company. The first positive side of
this leadership is that Johnson is that they are much focused towards the maintaining good
relation with the consumers. This is because of the fact that the consumers are the one which are
the major reason behind the success of the company (Seto and Sarros, 2016).
If the consumers are not liking the product and services then the company will not earn
much profits. For this leadership of Johnson is developing innovative and creative beverages to
attract more consumers and is also planning to expand in China. This leadership style is also
beneficial because of the reason that this style helps the Johnson to take care of the whole
organization and its elements. Another positive impact of Kevin Jonson leadership is that this
will lead to the development of the overall company as a whole.
Negative impact of style- with the positive impact of the leadership style there are also
some negative impact of this leadership style. This major negative impact is that the leader under
this style has to do what the employees are asking. This is because of the fact that Johnson works
for the betterment of the company as a whole. Another negative impact of leadership of Kevin
Johnson is that it is very difficult for Johnson to teach this type of leadership within the company
to other people. Thus, this takes a lot of time to develop this type of leadership within some other
people fort eh betterment of the company.
Ethical challenges- the ethical working is a type of working under which the company
works in ethically and morally correct manner. It is very necessary for Starbucks to work in
ethical and correct manner to gain success and increase profitability. In order to maintain and
increase financial performance Johnson has used ethical approach in leadership.
For this the first thing which Johnson did was to inform the consumers about all the
ingredients and material used in the products of Starbucks. It is very necessary that the

consumers are being informed that what ingredients they are intaking and how it will affect their
health. Thus, this is a good ethical consideration which is taken care by Johnson while doing the
business. Also, as the consumers have become more health conscious so Johnson leadership has
decided to reduce the added sugar by 25 % in its beverages so that it does not harm the health of
the consumers.
Views of employees- also, the views of the employees both former and current is good in
respect of the company. The most important positive thing which the employees find good about
the company is that it calls its employees as partner (Sipe and Frick, 2015). Thus, this motivates
the employee to work more harder as they are named as partner of the company. Also, some of
the current employee states that most of the employees of the comp any are the student or
aspiring students. These people are selected as the employee because of the major reason that
these are young and adaptive to the current situation and this will be beneficial for the company
(Chiniara and Bentein, 2016).
Another former employee states that the company employs less people and they train the
limited employee in working in every field. This technique is used by Johnson because of the
fact that this is beneficial for both the company and employees. For company it is beneficial that
they have to employ less people and this will result in company paying less salary. On the other
hand, this is also beneficial for the employees as they will get expert in every field.
Personal brand of Kevin Johnson
After the appointment of Kevin Johnson Starbucks has increased its business to a great
extent. This is majorly because of the reason that Johnson was a good visionary and has a very
good foresightedness and this was very beneficial for the company. The major reason for which
Johnson is treated as a global leader is that he is having a clear vision and foresightedness and
this helps the company in getting success and increase profitability. This is evident from the fact
that Johnson has set high targets for the development of the company. For this the company is
also planning to expand in China and to cover the new market and to capture the new consumer
base.
Also, another reason for the development of Kevin Johnson as a global leader is that he
was having very good analytical and reasoning skill. Also, along with this the he was very quick
in decision making process. This skill is evident form the fact that once two people were waiting
in the café and they have not ordered anything. So, the employees of Starbucks assumed they are

trespassing and for this they called the police and the two people were arrested. But soon it was
found that those people were not guilty. Soon when Johnson came to know about the situation he
immediately wrote an apology note on Twitter seeking sorry over the internet. This decision
helped Johnson in saving the goodwill of the café.
Another major reason behind the fact that Johnson is treated as a global leader is that he
as a leader promotes innovation and creativity (Winston and Fields, 2015). This is majorly
evident from the fact that he employs mostly the young people and especially the students or the
aspiring students. This is majorly done because of the reason that the young blood is more
innovative and are ready to learn new and innovative things fast. Also, they are very adaptive to
the changes taking place in the market and try to adapt to those changes.
Another leadership quality due to which Kevin Johnson is treated as a global leader is the
honesty and integrity within him (Le Ng, Choi and Soehod, 2016). It is more essential for the
company to be a honest person because if the leader will not be honest and is not using ethical
practices then they will not be liked by the employees. Thus, this will decrease the faith of the
employees in the leader and this will also impact the working of the employees. Hence, this
ultimately will result in the decrease in the profitability of the company. Therefore, it is seen that
the honestly and integrity is required by the leader to a great extent.
Recommendation
The leadership adopted by Kevin Johnson the CEO of Starbucks is very good and
effective in managing the working and operations of the company. Though the style of
leadership of Kevin was good that is the servant leadership style but then also there were many
flaws of this leadership style. Thus, to overcome this the company need to take some measures
for the improvement. These measures or recommendations are discussed in the following points
connected below-
Learn to lead by example- this the first and foremost important recommendation to
Kevin Johnson to use and imply in Starbucks for maintaining sustainability and having
competitive advantage. This is majorly because of the reason that if Johnson wants to have any
of the change being implemented in the company then first he has to check it himself that
whether the change will be accepted or not. This is majorly because of the reason that if first the
leader will practice the change and if it will be successful then automatically the employees will

be motivated to accept the change and work in accordance with it. This will help the leader in
conforming that the accepted change is beneficial for the company.
Change in leadership style- this is another recommendation for the Kevin Johnson is that
he must try a change in his leadership style which is currently servant leadership. He must try the
democratic leadership or the situational leadership. This is majorly because of the reason that
both these leadership style assist the company in improving the performance. The democratic is
the style in which the leaders takes decision by consulting all the people concerned with the
decision (Kohntopp and McCann, 2018). On the other side the situational leadership is also a
good technique of leadership as this is based on the situation. It means that whatever the situation
is the leadership style will be based upon it.
CONCLUSION
With the end of this study it can be concluded that leadership is very essential for the
company to be very effective. This is majorly because of the reason that if the leadership will be
appropriate then the working of the company will be in correct direction. Thus, it is very crucial
for Starbucks to have effective leadership style. From the above study it is outlined that servant
leadership is the one which is used by the CEO of Starbucks. In this report it was outlined that
servant leadership is being employed and also there are many challenges being faced at time of
application of servant leadership in VUCA environment.
These challenges are like time consuming, decreasing managerial authority and many
others. Further the evaluation of the leadership style followed by Kevin Johnson was made along
with the positive and negative impact of the leadership style and ethical considerations. Next
some reason behind Johnson being a global leader was discussed and was found that possessing
some characteristics make him a global leader. These are like vision, foresightedness, quick
decision making and many others.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chiniara, M. and Bentein, K., 2016. Linking servant leadership to individual performance:
Differentiating the mediating role of autonomy, competence and relatedness need
satisfaction. The Leadership Quarterly. 27(1). pp.124-141.
Collinson, D. and Tourish, D., 2015. Teaching leadership critically: New directions for
leadership pedagogy. Academy of Management Learning & Education. 14(4). pp.576-
594.
Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for
business, government and civil society. Routledge.
Figlewski, S. and Frommherz, A., 2017. Volatility leadership among index options. The Journal
of Derivatives. 25(2). pp.43-60.
Fletcher, J.K., 2017. Leadership, power, and positive relationships. In Exploring positive
relationships at work (pp. 347-372). Psychology Press.
Hattie, J., 2015. High-Impact Leadership. Educational Leadership. 72(5). pp.36-40.
Kohntopp, T. and McCann, J., 2018. Servant Leadership in the Workplace. The Palgrave
Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment, pp.301-328.
Le Ng, X., Choi, S.L. and Soehod, K., 2016. The effects of servant leadership on employee’s job
withdrawal intention. Asian Social Science. 12(2). pp.99-106.
Mahon, J.F. ed., 2016. Leading Knowledge Management in Knowledge Intensive Organisations.
Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Priest, S. and Gass, M., 2017. Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming, 3E. Human
Kinetics.
Senge, P., Hamilton, H. and Kania, J., 2015. The dawn of system leadership. Stanford Social
Innovation Review. 13(1). pp.27-33.
Seto, S. and Sarros, J.C., 2016. Servant Leadership Influence on Trust and Quality Relationship
in Organizational Settings. International Leadership Journal. 8(3).
Sipe, J.W. and Frick, D.M., 2015. Seven pillars of servant leadership: Practicing the wisdom of
leading by serving. Paulist Press.
Spears, L.C. and Lawrence, M. eds., 2016. Practicing servant-leadership: Succeeding through
trust, bravery, and forgiveness. John Wiley & Sons.
Winston, B. and Fields, D., 2015. Seeking and measuring the essential behaviors of servant
leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal. 36(4). pp.413-434.
Online
The art of servant leadership. 2018. [Online]. Available through: <
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development/pages/the-art-of-servant-leadership.aspx >
13 situational leadership advantages and disadvantages. 2018. [Online]. Available through: <
https://brandongaille.com/13-situational-leadership-advantages-and-disadvantages/>