People, Culture and Contemporary Leadership

This report analyzes the performance, culture, and engagement-related initiatives undertaken by Telstra, the largest telecommunications organization in Australia. It examines the impact of these initiatives on employee productivity, organizational culture, and customer satisfaction. The report also provides recommendations for Telstra to further improve its initiatives and maintain its position in the telecommunications industry.

Running head: PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Performance-related initiatives......................................................................................2
Culture-related initiatives...............................................................................................3
Engagement-related initiatives.......................................................................................4
Recommendations..........................................................................................................5
Conclusion......................................................................................................................6
References......................................................................................................................7

2PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
Introduction
Telstra Corporation Limited or Telstra is the largest telecommunications based
organization in Australia. Telstra is mainly builds and operates telecommunications networks
in the country. Telstra has been able to develop a long history in the telecommunication based
industry of Australia and the company has its origins from the inception time of Australia
Post (Telstra.com.au 2019). Telstra is currently an entirely privatised organization that is
going a change based program in order to become more customer focussed in nature. The
report will be based on the analysis of different types of initiatives that have been undertaken
by Telstra in order to continue its successful operations in the Australian telecommunications
industry (Telstra.com.au 2019).
Performance-related initiatives
Telstra has provided huge importance to the employees and the ways by which they
are able to perform in a safe work environment. The company has developed an initiative that
is named as the Values Program which is helpful for the support that can be provided to the
leaders and their employees. This is based on the types of behaviour that is able to affect the
teams within the organization. The approach that has been taken by Telstra is related to the
empowerment of employees and the effectiveness of their work process as well (Aktas,
Gelfand and Hanges 2016). The contributions that are provided by employees in the
workplace are also measured with the help of recognitions and rewards that are offered by the
company. The rewards the are offered to the employees include, discounts on the services,
products and the applications and high salary based packages. The levels of work flexibility
and leaves have also been increased as a part of this initiative that is developed by Telstra
(Alvesson and Sveningsson 2015). The leave policies of the organization are also highly
progressive in nature and the employees are given the power of purchasing additional leaves

3PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
if required. The performance levels of the employees have been affected in a huge manner by
the effective environment that has been developed within the organization. The importance
and empowerment of employees is considered to be a major factor that has an influence on
the operations of Telstra and productivity levels of the employees as well (Carr-Ruffino
2019). The values of Telstra and the vision of the organization have been integrated within
the performance development based programs that are developed. The “Values” program has
been able to play a major role in the ways by which Telstra has operated in the environment.
The flexibility in work has a major impact on the productivity of employees and the
profitability of the organization as a whole. The company has also received the “Employer of
Choice in The Australian Business Awards 2016” for the performance based initiative (Grint,
Jones and Holt 2016).
Culture-related initiatives
Telstra has the aim of becoming the first world-class technology based organization in
the world. The company has thereby taken initiatives in order to develop a culture that helps
in connecting the employees or people in order to develop a collaborative environment. The
organization has tried to improve the leadership within the organization with the help of a
partnership that has been formed with LIW. Telstra has developed a partnership based
agreement with LIW for a period of five years. The partnership is based on the development
of the Telstra Leader Programme (Heath, Martin and Shahisaman 2016). The program or
initiative is mainly based on the ways by which the executive team and General Manager
group collaborate and develop the leadership activities within the organization. The
leadership is developed in such a manner that can help in influencing the culture of Telstra in
a positive manner. The learning outcomes of Telstra Leader Programme are based on the 3 Cs
framework that include, clarity, climate and competence. The TLP programme enables the
participants to record the reflections of the activities with the help of a digital coach (Mansur,

4PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
Sobral and Goldszmidt 2017). The leaders are able to influence the culture that is developed
within the organization. This is considered to be an important part of the operations that are
conducted by Telstra in the telecommunications based industry of Australia. The of different
business units of Telstra and the employees are also implemented effectively within the
leadership of the organization. The culture that is formed in the organization is considered to
be helpful for providing effective opportunities to the employees (Marshall 2018). The
learning process of Telstra Leader Programme or TLP are recorded on a regular basis and this
is considered to be quite helpful for the development of an effective employees. The
organizational culture is thereby affected in a positive manner by the changes that take place
in the ways by which leaders behave (Mendenhall et al. 2017).
Engagement-related initiatives
The engagement of employees in the work process is able to affect the ways by which
they are able to provide high levels of satisfaction to the customers. The organization is also
capable of providing an outstanding experience to the customers with the help of highly
engaged employees. Telstra has promoted inclusion and diversity in different organizational
operations with the aim of improving the business results in an effective manner. The values-
led approach is implemented by Telstra in order to drive high levels of employee engagement
(Perez 2017). The opportunities based on learning and development that are provided to the
employees are considered to be a major engagement based initiative developed by Telstra.
Learning and development is able to play a major role in the ways by which Telstra can retain
the employees and can help in transforming the organization into a world class technology
company. The organization conducts a survey based on levels of employee engagement in
order to analyse the ways by which the activities or programs have been effective (Stephan
and Pathak 2016). The leaders in the organization are able to influence the employees and
their performance levels as well. The engagement based activities that have been developed

5PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
by the organization have been able to play a major role in improvement of the profitability
levels of Telstra in the telecommunications based industry. Telstra has tried to develop its
position in the telecommunications industry with the help of proper engagement of
employees in different organizational operations (Szczepańska-Woszczyna 2015).
Sustainability levels of the organization are based on the engagement levels that have been
developed with the help of its effective initiative. Engagement of employees is considered to
be highly important for the culture that is developed by the organization in order to provide
growth opportunities to the employees (Telstra.com.au 2019). Engagement of employees is
considered to be a major factor that is able to affect the operations of Telstra in the
telecommunications industry of Australia. Telstra has been able to increase the engagement
levels with the help of the unique initiatives that have been implemented (Heath, Martin and
Shahisaman 2016).
Recommendations
The performance based initiative that has been implemented by Telstra is based on the
ways by which the company aims at improving the productivity levels of the employees. The
company tries to motivate the employees with the help of rewards and different monetary
benefits as well. However, Telstra can be recommended to implement effective strategies in
order to increase the work and life balance of the employees. The levels of work flexibility
need to be increased in order to improve employee performance.
The culture based initiative that has been implemented by Telstra has been effective
for the leaders of the organization and their leadership activities as well. The organization
needs to aim at implementing strategies that can help in the development of a collaborative
culture within the organization. The employees need to be provided with training based on

6PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
inclusion and diversity levels. This is considered to be an important factor that will improve
the organizational culture.
The engagement based program that is developed by Telstra is considered to be
important for its operations in the telecommunications based industry. The organization will
be able to meet the challenges that are provided by changes that take place in the external
environment with the help of highly engaged employees. The engagement levels in Telstra
need to be analysed every six months in order to the maintain its effective operations. The
sustainability of Telstra will also be based on the engagement of employees and the services
which are provided to the customers.
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that Telstra has been able to operate
successfully in the telecommunications industry with the help of different initiatives that have
been implemented by the organization. The organization however needs to improve the
operations and levels of initiatives in order to maintain its sustainability. Telstra can become
the biggest global technology based organization in the world with the help of services that
are offered to the customers. The experiences that are offered to the customers are able to
play a major role in development of the position of Telstra.

7PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
References
Aktas, M., Gelfand, M.J. and Hanges, P.J., 2016. Cultural tightness–looseness and
perceptions of effective leadership. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(2), pp.294-309.
Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S., 2015. Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge.
Carr-Ruffino, N., 2019. Leadership opportunities for managing diversity. In Gender and
Diversity: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 651-673). IGI Global.
Grint, K., Jones, O.S. and Holt, C., 2016. What is Leadership. The Routledge Companion to
Leadership, p.3.
Heath, K., Martin, L. and Shahisaman, L., 2016. Global Leadership Competence: The
Intelligence Evolution of a Great Leader. Journal of Global Leadership, p.167.
Mansur, J., Sobral, F. and Goldszmidt, R., 2017. Shades of paternalistic leadership across
cultures. Journal of World Business, 52(5), pp.702-713.
Marshall, S., 2018. Leadership. In Contemporary Issues in Leadership (pp. 7-19). Routledge.
Mendenhall, M.E., Osland, J., Bird, A., Oddou, G.R., Stevens, M.J., Maznevski, M. and
Stahl, G.K. eds., 2017. Global leadership: Research, practice, and development. Routledge.
Perez, J.R., 2017. Global leadership and the impact of globalization. Journal of Leadership,
Accountability and Ethics, 14(3), pp.48-52.
Stephan, U. and Pathak, S., 2016. Beyond cultural values? Cultural leadership ideals and
entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 31(5), pp.505-523.

8PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
Szczepańska-Woszczyna, K., 2015. Leadership and organizational culture as the normative
influence of top management on employee's behaviour in the innovation process. Procedia
Economics and Finance, 34, pp.396-402.
Telstra.com.au 2019. Telstra - mobile phones, prepaid phones, broadband, internet, home
phones, business phones. [online] Telstra.com.au. Available at: https://www.telstra.com.au/
[Accessed 8 Apr. 2019].