Importance of Leadership Training and Development for Organization

This essay discusses the concepts of leadership and management, their similarities and differences, and the importance of leadership training and development for organizations. It analyzes various literature and theories on leadership and management, and evaluates a leadership development program. The essay also explores the roles and skills of leaders and managers in organizations, using Sainsbury's as an example. It concludes with the significance of leadership training in increasing productivity, grooming future leaders, and improving risk management.

Literature Review and Essay

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT LITERATURE/THEORIES...........................................1
EVALUATE THE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME........................................5
Discuss the importance of leadership training and development for organization......................5
Evaluate the benefits of leadership program...............................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Leadership and Management are two distinctive concepts with various similarities due to
which in various cases the differences between these two concepts diminishes. Leadership is a
narrow concept than management and it includes the process in which an individual known as
leader lead a group of employees or followers towards the combined goal (Yukl, 1981)
(Antonakis and Day, 2017). Individual who acts as a leader first creates a vision and then creates
that vision to the followers so that the entire group can work hard for the fulfilment of that
vision. Leadership is process in which leader encourages and motivates followers to act upon the
vision and contribute their hard work so that vision can be acquired. Leadership is a continuous
process due to which it states that communicating the vision only is not enough. Leader also
requires to help the followers to go through the obstacles which followers has to face while
pursuit of the vision.
On the other hand, management is the concept which provides power to an individual known
as manager to control and direct its employees. The similar aspect of both the concepts is the
common goal. Both of these processes are conducted in a business to ensure that the overall goal
is achieved. The concept of management is wider than leadership as in some cases manager also
has to lead its employees. Due to the slight differences and ample similarities, these two concepts
are often considered as one. In order to effectively differentiate between these two concept,
academic theory can be used. This academic theory is used by organisations in order to create
leadership programmes by using the leadership techniques and principles.
In this essay, the concepts of leadership and management is analysed by using various
literature of authors. Also, programs of leadership development are also analysed which based
upon the reviewed literature.
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT LITERATURE/THEORIES
According to Bolman and Deal 2017, leadership is a quality of influencing people and
encourage them to fulfil the organisational goals. The concept of leadership has two phases
which includes leading the people for the achievement of goals and to ensure satisfaction of
employees as well. The concept of leadership is a narrow concept as it is basically a part of
management. The individuals who carry out the procedure of leadership are known as leaders.
These leaders first work to gain the trust of their followers or in organisation sense employees
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and then motivate them to work harder so that organisationally goals can be fulfilled effectively.
Typically, in this concept, the business strategy which is followed is proactive in which leaders
first analyse the situation, seek advice of subordinate employees and then take an action. Leaders
of an organisation focus on influencing people by their acts rather than ruling over the
employees. There are various roles of leaders in an organisation which they play for the welfare
of organisations. These roles can be understood which an examples of business organisation such
as Sainsbury’s.
Sainsbury’s is a large scale company which operates in the industry of supermarket retail.
This company highly influential and considers its employees as assets. There are various roles
which leaders of this company play in the operations. The most important role of leaders is to act
honestly and with full integrity. Leaders of an organisation believe that the figure which is
followed by the employees due to which a leader always work with full integrity. Another role of
a leader is to create and communicate vision. Leaders of Sainsbury’s first create the vision which
aligns with the overall goal of organisation and then effectively communicate that vision with all
the employees.
According to Rosenbach 2018, communicate effectively and ability to challenge are also
important roles of leaders. Sainsbury’s is an international company due to which its leaders make
sure that they communicate all the information effectively so that all the orders and guidance is
clear to employees. Also, leaders are the individuals who play the role to challenge existing
functions and techniques used by the organisation. Leaders of Sainsbury’s are not afraid to take
challenges due to which with the changing environment, they carry he ability to change the
organisation’s strategies as well. All these mentioned roles and skills of leaders help them in deal
with the situations which they face while working in Sainsbury’s. In order to effectively play the
role, leaders follow certain guidelines which are referred as leadership theories. These theories
are the guidelines and principles which provide certain acts which leaders perform.
From the viewpoints of Mendenhall and et.al., 2017, Trait Theory is one of the most
important theories of leadership as it includes various leadership characteristics which an
individual should follow to be an effective leader. This theory is a modern theory which became
popular as it specifies personality traits. This theory states that leaders are not born but are made.
This theory provides various features by following which, any individual can be an effective
leader. Organisations like Sainsbury’s use this theory so that their issues of leading can be
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resolved. The features of this theory includes, decision making skills, flexibility, creativity,
initiative, emotional intelligence, motivation, knowledge of the business etc.
Decision making ability is the capability of a leader which allows him to take important
decision in the operations of a business. This theory states that an effective leader must involve
the employees in the process of decision making as it builds a sense of responsibility in
employees and also result in effective decision making as it involves viewpoints of various
individuals. Another feature of mentioned in trait theory is initiative According to this feature, a
leader should has the ability to initiative for change; as it is considered that by the passing time,
an organisation must bring in their operations and strategies, the leader must possess the ability
to initiate the change for the growth and survival prospects of the company. Another feature
stated in this theory is knowledge of business, according to which a leader must have adequate
and reliable information about the business so that informed decisions can be taken. Creativity
and flexibility are few features mentioned in trait theory according to which a leader must be
creative when it comes to tackle the situations in organisation and must also be flexible so that he
can work in any situation with anyone. Apart from all these features, few other traits involved in
trait theory are honesty, confidence, charisma, communicative and tenacity.
According to Sanders, 2017, Behavioural Theories is a set of leadership theories which are
effective for large organisation’s leaders to adopt. Unlike trait theory, this theory is based upon
behaviour of leaders. Behavioural theories of leadership are divided into two classes which are
Ohio State University and University of Michigan. According to Michigan studies, a leader can
exercise its leadership either by following the boss centric approach or by following employee
centred approach. In the case of boss centred approach, leader exercises a high level of control
and takes all the decision without involving anyone. This approach helps in quick decision
making but lacks in satisfying employees. On the other hand, employee centred approach allows
a leader to provide a high level of freedom to employees and consider their views in the
important decisions. This approach benefits by highly satisfying the employees but can result in
delay decisions.
Ohio State leadership theory states that there is a positive relationship between consideration
and the regularity of employees. This theory helps a leader to analyse that if the structure of an
organisation is low then the performance of employees will be higher. Also, if performance and
satisfaction of employees are high then the organisational productivity will also increase.
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From the opinion of Covin and Slevin, 2017, Management is a concept of managing things
with a discipline in the best possible manner. This concept has the sole purpose to getting things
done by others. The concept of management is a wider concept and includes various elements
such as planning, organising, controlling, directing, leading and motivating. This concept is
conducted as a process by the individual referred as a manager. A manager is an individual
which plays an important role in an organisation. In Sainsbury’s, there are various roles played
by managers. One of the most important roles of managers is to bring stability and discipline in
the activities. Managers are different from leaders, as the rule over their employees and provide
orders to employees without considering their decisions. Another role of managers is to develop
reactive strategies in which organisation can react when they face contingencies. Other roles of
managers include development of policies and procedures which every subordinate has to follow
and making decisions for organisational functions. The managers of Sainsbury’s follow these
roles to identify solutions to the problem. Apart from these roles, managers are required to be
efficient and confident so that they can plan and then provide orders to subordinates and must
ensure that organisational goals are effective fulfilled.
From the point of view of Glatthorn and et.al., 2018, managers must possess the skills of
communicative, conciseness, authority and availability. The concept of management is similar to
leadership but also has various differences as well. The most important similarity among both of
these concepts includes that managers and leaders both work with their subordinates and are
surrounded by people. Also, in both the concept, the primary aim is to fulfil the common
organisational goal. Managers are more interdisciplinary than leaders, but both of these
individuals ensure effective working in an organisation. Coming towards the concept,
management and leadership, both are the foundation of an organisation and both are used to
structure the foundation of a company. Another similarity between both of these concepts is the
concern. Both of these concepts share a common concern of optimally utilising the resources
available to the organisation. These resources can be the raw materials, tools, equipment to the
employees working in an organisation.
According to Rice, 2018, the concepts of management and leadership are similar in various
ways. Both of these concepts influence the work structure of an organisation with the main of
bringing sustainability and efficiency in the organisation. The reason behind these two notions
used interchangeably is that the main components of both the concepts are same. Both of these
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concepts share component of change, delivery of vision and interaction with employees. Apart
from various similarities analysed, there are few differences as well.
From the view points of Van Wart 2017, leadership is a process which is conducted by
leader and management is a process which is conducted by manager. Where leaders are the ones
who create the vision for employees, managers are the individuals who create goals which are
required to be achieved by the employees. In a case, leaders are the people who believe in
bringing change and innovation to grow the company. In another case, managers are the
individuals who bring change or innovation only when it is required. Due to this difference, the
leaders create unique solution but the managers copy the solutions which are pre developed and
analysed in business situations. The approach which a leader follows to achieve the
organisational goal is to build the relationships between the employees so that a sense of trust
can be build. But on the other hand, managers uses the approach of building systems and
approaches which every individual has to follow in order to ensure achievement of goals.
According to William Arruda (2016), managers and leaders provide their fullest contribution
against the organisation but when it comes to managing the employees, managers tend to direct
them but leaders believe in coaching the employees and assist them if the face hurdles in
between the process. The subordinates who work under managers are always refereed as
employees as they contribute in organisation in order to earn wages but the people who work
under leader are often referred as fans or followers as they do not only work for earning wages
but also because they believe in the vision of their leader (Differences Between Being A Leader
And A Manager, 2016).
EVALUATE THE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Discuss the importance of leadership training and development for organization
There are various reasons which are essential for organization in respect of leadership
training and it further help the business to develop their operational functions. Some of the
importance is as follow:
Increase productivity: With the help of leadership program organization will able to
increase the efficiency of their labour force through providing effective training to each member
in successful leadership skills. Leaders will provide guidance for workers and ensure that they
perform beyond standards. In addition, it is very essential that leaders should have ability to
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evaluate challenges, resolve issues and provide practical solutions in the event of a shortage.
Leaders of Sainsbury’s company make sure that they provide relevant training to their staff
which helps in improving individual productivity and performance. It will directly affect the
company’s production and performance in the market.
Look after for future leaders: Unfortunately it is hard for future leaders to be motivated
without proper leadership preparation. Leaders are supposed to be the powerhouses of thinking
that workers and colleagues turn to for direction and direction. They have to get the ability to
communicate well and inspire their colleagues, and motivate them (Spears and Lawrence, 2016).
These characteristics will improve productivity while offering a more pleasant work environment
for your employees. Training and cultivating future leaders is important through the provision of
progressive leadership training. Sainsbury’s wants to build their worker's skills they need to suit
the available leadership positions. Adequate training means that they are ready to assume certain
leadership roles. Company should focus on required skills and capability which should be in the
future leaders and it will help in managing and improving overall organizational performance
and productivity.
Improve risk management: Companies are mindful that a risk factor will always be present
when doing business. So, they need to prepare your future and build strategies for identified risk
through risk management plans. They will develop expertise in strategic direction and risk
management. Improving the Risk Management skills of leaders will add significant value to any
company. Basically this is the reason of providing leadership training in the organization which
helps the managers to formulate strategies regarding reducing risk management. Sainsbury’s
managers implement leadership training such as “Communicating with Purpose” to manage
company’s risk that can affect production of organization.
Develop emotional intelligence: Emotional intelligence is one of the key characteristics of
personality which make a great leader. Knowing how feelings affect others makes sure people
lead in a productive and considerate manner. Education programs in leadership put a heavy focus
on emotional intelligence as it contributes to more positive outcomes. With the help of leadership
training program, Sainsbury’s able to improve emotional intelligence among staff members
which helps in building good relation and it will further generate effective outcomes.
Project leadership: Despite appropriate leadership skills for the project, leaders would
possibly fail to manage all facets of a project (Herman, 2016). It can cause the company to go off
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course and end up causing major losses to the company. Owing to faulty instructions and
magnified tension, worker morale is often likely to slip. Due to this reason, project leadership is
essential and leader makes sure that they provide regular directions regarding work. Managers of
Sainsbury’s provide various leadership training program which provide the importance of project
leadership.
Flexibility to chance: Effective leadership training program help the organization to
implement changes that is very essential for overall organizational growth. Company should
change their leadership style which can improve worker’s ability as well as efficiency that is
beneficial for the business to achieve their operational goals & objectives.
Above discussed points are the importance of leadership training program and it is further
required for the development of organizations. Management of Sainsbury’s providing several
leadership training program such as 360 degree assessment which enhance productivity,
profitability as well as individual employee’s performances. It will further provide the overall
growth and future opportunity that required by every organization to get success in the business
environment.
Eligibility criteria for leadership development program:
While providing leadership training development program, organization required
preparing idea of leadership, mechanical failure, temperament and emotional intelligence are
presented during development program. The program is structured to provide a combination of
training methods which include teaching in the classroom, simulations of high resolution
business and one -to - one beginner lessons (Harms and et.al., 2017). Basically, Sainsbury’s
should have proper place to provide to their staff and all the technical support which required at
the time of training session. In addition, participation of employees is most important.
Structure of program:
 Personality and 360 degree assessment: Assessment of personality is based on carefully
designed questionnaires to systematically collect information about the personality and
behaviour of a student. Employees are given an overall summary of the feedback they
have received regarding individualized reports at the beginning of the programme. The
information is for developmental purposes only.
 Teamwork: The curriculum also focuses on the value of team standards and working
together to further exploit the knowledge diversity. To gain knowledge into an
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individual's behavioural pattern in a team environment, a high resolution business
simulation exercise is used. This game helps participants to explore the relationships
between their colleagues and how this interacts with their business performance in the
market.
 Workshops: Employees have the opportunity to enrol for conceptual skill-building
workshops over the weekends. Such workshops contain topics such as business
presentation, writing and reading skills (Komives and Wagner, 2016). Technical skills
such as Excel, PPT etc. Businesses analytics, project management, survey development
skills etc.
Intended outcomes:
 Develop understanding of the information, skills and attributes needed to become
successful leaders.
 Identify essential leadership and teamwork skills to properly manage teams.
 Make the most of the variety of interactions by sharing personal and interpersonal skills
of others.
 Observe and practice selected interpersonal skills required for leadership and teamwork
Evaluate the benefits of leadership program
For individual:
 Productivity: Leadership program offer by the organization to improve individual
productivity that is very essential. Leadership and development program helps in
generating confidence among the individuals which improve individual performance and
make them able to achieve their personal goals and after that business goals & objectives.
Emotional intelligence encompasses being knowledgeable about feelings and using
sympathy effectively to motivate and engage employees. Leadership preparation that
includes emotional intelligence will refine these cognitive skills into managers and
leaders.
 Improve skills: Leadership training programme help individual to improve their
technical or non technical skills. These programs enhance individual ability or capability
to generate more profit for the business. In order to skilled their employees, organizations
provide these trainings but if person is already skilled then they does not required any
training which save the business cost. Most of the firms provide leadership training
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programme after hiring new candidate to make them comfortable with business
operations.
 Increase employee engagement: During the training process, people regularly engage
with each other and make good relation that is beneficial for individual as well as
organizational purpose (Cashman, 2017). According to one survey, 43 percent of workers
are highly involved and receive input at least once per week compared to just 18 percent
of those with low commitment. Providing feedback is a good leadership skill. With
leadership preparation, they can teach successful ways to inspire and improve everyone's
ability level by providing feedback.
For organization:
 Shaping company’s culture: Organization need to share some information with their
employees regarding. With the help of training programs, individual efficiency increases
which further helping business to succeed. It is one of the essential benefits which shape
working culture that will lead friendly or comfortable work culture for employees. By
using training development program, managers of Sainsbury get this benefit or grow
further in the market.
 Attracting good talent: Workers who are focused and committed to the company are the
staff members organization wants at their business. This is one of the benefits you would
not initially find in leadership preparation. It helps the Sainsbury’s to attract tenanted
people who can increase productivity as well as profitability through minimising overall
production cost.
 Improve financial performance: businesses investing in their employees tend to
perform better or generate more revenue for organization. In addition, they make sure
that training program helps in minimising costs, increase productivity and strengthen
teams around the business by educating leaders who know how to do their jobs well.
Sainsbury’s provide appropriator training program to skilled their employees who able to
minimise overall production cost which increase the profit margin.
 Accountability: Leadership programs involve transparency which helps in sustaining a
positive change approach. Leadership development benefits include assessing the strong
competencies and areas for improvement of a leader (Berrett-Koehler, 2018). It is the
organizational benefit for Sainsbury’s company through implementing leadership training
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for their staff members. Leaders or managers become more accountable for their work
and they need to be responsible for their actions.
From the overall conclusion, it has been evaluated that leadership training programme has
enough benefits or importance which force the organization to adopt these training in their
business to get advantage. Such as Sainsbury’s, they can provide number of training programs to
improve their staff remembers performance which further generate more profit for the company
(Wildavsky, 2017). Leadership and development programme essential for employees which
make them more skills or enhance their value in the organization. On the other side, these
training improve overall productivity, manage finance, attract talent, shape the culture etc.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it has been concluded that Leadership and management both
are different from each other with certain similarities, due to which the distinctions between
these two terms diminish in different situations. Leadership is a specific term than management,
and it involves the mechanism in which a person known as the Leader leads a group of workers
or followers toward the common target. Persons who serve as leaders first develop a vision and
then establish that goal for followers, so that the entire community will work together to achieve
the vision. Leadership is a mechanism in which the leader inspires and motivates participants to
act upon the vision and to lead to their hard work in order to achieve success. Leadership
development programs (LDPs) differ in duration, which includes the type of operation.
Sainsbury’s provides training courses for future leaders, bosses and managers. The general aim
of these interventions is to help the individuals to recognize their abilities and areas for change.
Most courses have inventories of character assessments and personality and attitude profiles to
help individuals to recognize their particular style of leadership and learn how to adapt that style
to various circumstances and audiences. These programs provide various activities such as 360
degree assessment, mentoring, seminars, coaching, learning etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Yukl, G., 1981. Leadership in Organizations, 9/e. Pearson Education India.
Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. eds., 2017. The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Rosenbach, W.E., 2018. Contemporary issues in leadership. Routledge.
Mendenhall, M.E and et.al., 2017. Global leadership: Research, practice, and development.
Routledge.
Sanders, J.O., 2017. Spiritual leadership: Principles of excellence for every believer. Moody
Publishers.
Covin, J.G. and Slevin, D.P., 2017. The entrepreneurial imperatives of strategic leadership.
Strategic entrepren
Glatthorn, A.A. and et.al., 2018. Curriculum leadership: Strategies for development and
implementation. SAGE publications.
Rice, A.K., 2018. Learning for leadership: Interpersonal and intergroup relations. Routledge.
Van Wart, M., 2017. Leadership in public organizations: An introduction. Taylor & Francis.
Spears, L.C. and Lawrence, M. eds., 2016. Practicing servant-leadership: Succeeding through
trust, bravery, and forgiveness. John Wiley & Sons.
Herman, R.D., 2016. Executive leadership. The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership
and management, pp.167-187.
Harms, P.D. and et.al., 2017. Leadership and stress: A meta-analytic review. The Leadership
Quarterly, 28(1), pp.178-194.
Komives, S.R. and Wagner, W. eds., 2016. Leadership for a better world: Understanding the
social change model of leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.
Cashman, K., 2017. Leadership from the inside out: Becoming a leader for life. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.
Oc, B., 2018. Contextual leadership: A systematic review of how contextual factors shape
leadership and its outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly.
Wildavsky, A., 2017. Leadership in a small town. Routledge.
Online
Differences Between Being A Leader And A Manager. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2016/11/15/9-differences-between-being-a-
leader-and-a-manager/#193267dc4609>
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