Leadership in Business

Running Head: MANAGEMENT
0
Leadership in Business
7/3/2019

MANAGEMENT
1
Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................... 2
Overview of the company (Woolworths Supermarket)..........................................................2
Leadership practices at Woolworths.................................................................................3
Strengths and weakness of the leadership...........................................................................5
Recommendations for improvement of performance in Woolworths.........................................7
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 8
References.............................................................................................................. 10

MANAGEMENT
2
Introduction
The report will discuss the management concepts, and practices or issues of
leadership in context to business organisations. In general words, leadership can be defined
as the process of impacting the attitude or behaviour of individuals towards the attainment of
common goals. The role of leaders or managers is considered crucial to lead the employees
or individuals towards their goals, and development. In this report, ‘Woolworths
Supermarket’ has been undertaken as the organisation to analyse leadership practices. The
discussion will explain leadership styles, practices, and challenges faced by leaders or
managers in Woolworths. The report will also determine a difference between leadership
influence and coercion applied on the members of organisation. These will be demonstrated
with concept of power & authority, playing a major role in organisational effectiveness.
Woolworth’s leadership style will also be mentioned in the report, along with the strengths
and limitations, determining the level of performance. In the later part, recommendations in
relation to the leadership practice will be provided to bring change or improvement in the
future years. The readers will acquire an understanding of leadership practices and the
influence on the functioning and growth of organisation. Thus, these concepts and leadership
practices, or behaviours will be illustrated with the help of suitable examples and appropriate
literature.
Overview of the company (Woolworths Supermarket)
Woolworths is an Australian supermarket grocery store that is managed and governed
by Woolworths Group. The supermarket is a part of the retail sector, and specialises in the
sale of groceries i.e. vegetables, fruits and other food items. In addition to the eatables, the
company also sell DVDs, magazines and other items. The core business of the company, is
Supermarket, Woolworths Groups is the largest liquor take away retailer in Australia. The
company has acquired a major share i.e. 80% of the retail market within the country, and
continue to attract large number of customers across the nation. The store outlets of the
Woolworths mainly operate using the green apple logo, which serves to determine one of the
best retailer in the industry (Woolworths, 2018).
Working as the grocery store chain, maintaining the health and satisfaction of their
customers is the core objective of Woolworths. Effective management practices and

MANAGEMENT
3
leadership theories are relevant in the organisation to attain growth in the conduct of their
operations.
Therefore, the assignment will bring insight into the leadership practices and the important
influence on the effective operations and success (Woolworths Group, 2018).
Leadership practices at Woolworths
An organisation best achieves their predetermined goals and objectives with the
contribution of members, along with the equal support of managers and leaders. Leaders
organise, motivate, or encourage people in an organisation towards attaining maximum
efficiency and organisational goals. Organisational leadership refers to dual focused
management approach, aims to emphasize and enhance the individual growth and
development of the organisation as a whole. It is therefore, considered an important function
of management, and requires attaining essential skills to practice effective leadership.
Employees feel motivated and show their high commitment towards the work and
organisational policies, developing positive work attitude and ethics (Karlsson et al., 2018).
The leadership team, i.e. Board of directors, and other members of the supermarket has
the objective to deliver maximum shareholder value, and satisfaction to their customers.
They also ensure the proper conduct or management of activities of the organisation at all the
locations. The CEO or leader of the organisation, Bradford Banducci has worked upon the
effectiveness of the organisation, practising ‘participative leadership’.
This style of leadership is defined as the leadership which focuses upon the engagement of
employees in the core activities of the organisation (Grimmer, 2018). The leader of the
supermarket invited the inputs from their workers or employees at each level, on all or most
of the company decisions. Through participative leadership, individuals feel motivated to
generate queries, and get them resolved easily, by discussing or interacting with the
executives or leaders. The culture of the Woolworths emphasized, on enhancing the level of
employee engagement along with fostering the aspect of workforce diversity. These two
aspects or element determine the working practices or style of the supermarket leading to
overall effectiveness (Alvesson & Kärreman, 2016).