Developing Leadership and Management Skills in a Competitive Market Scenario

A continuous development and learning plan will assist the manager of Sainsbury's in gaining knowledge and skills that will help them in the future scenario. The plan should focus on new learning techniques like visual learning, which will help retain information for a long time period. Training is also essential to enhance the manager's knowledge and skills, enabling them to perform duties effectively and guide employees to improve their performance.

Personal leadership and management
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK- 1...........................................................................................................................................3
The impact of organizational objectives, values and culture on the leadership and management
role...............................................................................................................................................3
The leadership and management skills required to support the achievement of organizational
objectives.....................................................................................................................................4
TASK- 2...........................................................................................................................................5
Assess your personal leadership and management skills and identify the personal development
required to support the achievement of organizational objectives...............................................5
The opportunities for development leadership and management skills.......................................6
Construct development plan with clear objectives......................................................................8
TASK- 3.........................................................................................................................................10
Managing your personal development of leadership and management skills...........................10
TASK- 4.........................................................................................................................................11
Review your personal development plan against original objectives........................................11
Evaluate the effectiveness of your personal development of leadership and management skills
....................................................................................................................................................12
Areas for further development and update your personal development plan............................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15
2

INTRODUCTION
Personal leadership and management are being viewed as effective and beneficial for
success of the business. Through effective leadership and management skills, individual can
promptly take decision to make the business successful in the competitive scenario (Zaleznik,
2001). Professional development is defined as a process that increases the knowledge and skills
for personal development and career advancement. Moreover, the leadership and management
skills are also essential as it support the organization in accomplishing their objectives and goals.
Sainsbury is the renowned supermarket chain in the UK who deals in selling the grocery items
and products to their market customers. The supermarket contributes 16.9% of its share in the
supermarket sector and has become the second largest chain in the state of UK.
The report mainly focuses on evaluating the leadership and management skills which is
required by the individual to support the organization in achieving their objectives. The report
also focuses on the organizational culture and objectives that directly impact the leadership and
management role of the manager. Further, it stresses on measuring own management and
leadership skills and constructing personal development plan for developing identified skills.
Moreover, the report also evaluates effectiveness of developing the skills for attaining success in
the company..
TASK- 1
The impact of organizational objectives, values and culture on the leadership and management
role
With the changing external environment organization objectives, values and culture
directly affect the leadership and management role (Gagnon, 2012). Organizational objectives
are defined as the medium term goals that need to be accomplished by the organization for
sustaining in the competitive market scenario. To attain the corporate objective the role of
leadership and management are required to make plan or polices and also the responsibility of
manger is to determine proper allotment of resources. For example, Sainsbury objective is to
increase the sales up to 10% for this, the management personnel need to frame policies or plan
for accomplishing the objectives (Buble, Juras and Matic, 2014).
However, the culture plays significant role in creating healthy environment within an
organization which will further assist the individual and employees to work properly and
effectively. In communicating tasks and duties or for promoting ethics among the employees,
3

Sainsbury need cooperative culture which can influence their employees work behaviour
(Clayton, 2014). If the relationship between the manager and employees of Sainsbury is good
then, they will effectively contribute in collaborative efforts in the organization to achieve their
aim.. Thus, it will also assist in enhancing the job satisfaction (Importance of Motivation, 2013).
The organizational ethical values and cooperative culture will also impact leaders as well
as management in performing the work and tasks in an effective manner. With cooperative and
adaptive culture at the Sainsbury, the leaders would readily accept the change and it will also
assist their subordinate or co-workers to accept the modification properly within the
environment. Further it will aid in incorporate fair remuneration structure for their employees
and will also help in evaluating performance of their worker in the proper manner. Ethical values
at the workplace will assist the management and leaders in establishing an equitable and
consistent working environment (Leadership Theories, 2013).
The leadership and management skills required to support the achievement of organizational
objectives
Sainsbury is the second largest supermarket chain in the UK that deals in selling wide
variety of grocery products (Effective communication, 2011). For achieving the objectives of
Sainsbury, the manager working in the supermarket chain requires different management and
leadership skills which will help in delegating, motivating and managing their workers for
accepting the unexpected change. However, building effective management and leadership skills
will also support them to succeed in the competitive environment and accomplishing the
objectives. For achieving the aims of Sainsbury, they must possess positive attitude within the
organization so that, they can collaboratively achieve the objectives by motivating their
employees and workers (Barling, Slater and Kelloway, 2010). There are several leadership and
management skills the manager of Sainsbury possess that help and support them in achieving
objectives for delivering adequate requirements of their market customers. The different
leadership and management skills that manager of Sainsbury have: Team development skills: Another skill that manager of Sainsbury features for achieving
the objectives includes building team development skills. As these skills will focus on
ensuring collaborative climate as well as principled leadership that will assist them in
managing people within the team by delegating proper tasks and duties (Anderson and
Anderson, 2010).
4

 Decision making skills: Some other leadership and management skills that manager of
Sainsbury possess that support them in achieving the Sainsbury objectives include
effective decision making skills. This skill will focuses on taking appropriate decision for
ensuring success of the organization in the competitive market scenario (Leadership
Theories, 2013).
 Communication skills: For achieving organizational objectives, the manager of Sainsbury
must possess effective communication skills that help them to properly communicate
with their workers so that, they can easily attain the objectives (Parker, 2011). Effective
communication between manager and employees also assist in smoothing their
relationship which will result in improving their teamwork and decision making process.
TASK- 2
Assess your personal leadership and management skills and identify the personal development
required to support achievement of organizational objectives
There are certain measures for assessing own skills and development that is required to
support and assist in accomplishing the stated goals and objectives of the Sainsbury (Hay and
Hodgkinson, 2006). The individual personal leadership and management skills will be measured
and identified through certain tools and techniques that are: Use of feedback: It is consider as an effective method through which I can assess my
own leadership and management skills (Dugan, 2011). By gaining positive feedback from
the superior it will support me and motivate to contribute effectively in attaining growth
and improving the performance of Sainsbury in the UK region. However, the negative
feedback will assist me in identifying the skills which I need to enhance for rendering
quality services within the workplace. Hence, the feedback is an impressive method for
assessing leadership and management skills and further it helps in identifying personal
development of the skills which is required for achieving objectives (Zaleznik, 2001). Self-assessment: I can also assess the leadership and management skills by undertaking
self-assessment techniques which will help in analyzing my own strengths and
weaknesses. Thus, this technique will help me in measuring own skills that I currently
possess for achieving the objectives that is interpersonal, leadership, etc. Moreover,
5

through this, I will identify my weak areas that which i am required to work on by
constructing development plan (Gagnon, 2012).
 Personal skill audit: Another method for assessing personal leadership and management
skills include carrying out skill audit. Basically, it is in the form of questionnaire which
features certain series of questions about the skills that I possess for carrying out the tasks
and activities in the Sainsbury. Conducting personal audit will result in identifying the
skills that need to be developed through effective training and development (Bush, 2008).
Skill audit mainly possess five stages:
1. Identifying existing skills
2. Evaluating required skills
3. Rating the skills
4. Reviewing the rating
5. Future development of the skills
By considering the above methods and technique I can easily measure my leadership and
management skills that would support me in performing my role and task in the effective
manner. The different skills that support me in performing my job in the effective manner
include interpersonal skill, self management skills as well as time management skills. All these
will support me performing my role in the effective manner so I can easily accomplish the
objectives. However, leader or manager is the one that direct the employees to accomplish their
responsibilities in the proper manner so that employees can achieve the objective that it to satisfy
the needs of customers by providing them required and quality goods. In addition to this, I have
also different leadership skills that is managing others, I am capable enough to work in the team,
team building skills that it positively support me in accomplishing the objectives.
The opportunities for development leadership and management skills
For surviving in the competitive market, I need to enhance and develop my leadership as
well as management skills so that, I can help in rendering proper services within the internal
environment to accomplish the overall objectives and goals of Sainsbury (Buble, Juras and
Matic, 2014). There are certain opportunities that will help me in developing leadership and
management skills which include:
6

 Mentoring: Mentoring is considered as an opportunity for developing own leadership
and management skills. In this method, professional or experienced personnel guides or
teaches to develop the skills (Buble, Juras and Matic, 2014). In this method professional
guides me regarding the tasks and activities that I have to perform in the organization.
However, it also helps in enhancing the leadership and management skills that will
support me in performing the activities effectively is a casual communicating of
knowledge to heighten the own skills so I can perform the tasks and activities properly.
That they can perform their job effectively. In this method, mentor supports me and
encourages me to offer or give suggestions which will help me in enhancing my
communication skills (Clayton, 2014). Reflective learning: Reflective learning is also considered as an effectual opportunity
that assists me in enhancing learning skills from own past experiences. One of the
reflective learning models that can be utilized by the Sainsbury to acquire the
management and leadership skills is the Kollb’s learning model. This model features four
steps that are Concentrate experience, Reflective observation, abstract conceptualization
and active experimentation. Reflective learning will help me in eliminating the mistakes
which I have done in the past events (Importance of Motivation, 2013).
 Communication processes: The regular and effective communication between the
manager and employees will also support me in developing leadership and management
skills. Proper and regular communication with the senior manager or executive will help
me gaining adequate knowledge and information that will assist me in performing the
activities in Sainsbury properly. Thus, it will also act as an opportunity for developing
and enhancing the skills (Leadership Theories, 2013).
Construct development plan with clear objectives
Table 1: Personal development plan
Skills to be developed Activities required for developing
the skills
Time period
1. communication  Regular meeting with the 1 month
7

skills employees or workers.
 Encouraging manpower to
provide suggestion.
 Group discussion
2. Decision making
skills
 Encouraging employee’s
participation.
 Inviting suggestion from
workers
 Informal and Formal
meetings
 Critical thinking
2-3 weeks
3. Team building skills  Making teams
 Assigning activities to each
individual member of the
group
1-2 months
4. Inter personal skills  Increasing communication
 Engaging with the people
who have common likes
and dislike
 Physical activities will be
organized to interact with
the employees and workers
4-6 weeks
5. Time management
skills
 Prioritizing the tasks
according to their
importance and urgency
 Delegating less important
tasks to other workers
 Allocating proper time for
completing each tasks
4 weeks
6. Stress management  Brainstorming session 2-3 months
8

 Indulging in physical
activities Relaxation
techniques Managing the
time
7. Attending
customers
 Listening properly to the
customers
 Satisfying the needs of
customers
1 month
2
TASK- 3
Managing your personal development of leadership and management skills
After constructing personal development plan for processing the skills, I will focus on
implementing the constructed plan successfully within the premises so I can properly gain or
develop leadership and management skills. For managing the workforce of Sainsbury, I need to
properly implement the plan so that, I can enhance the skills for accomplishing the objectives of
the organization (Effective communication, 2011). Proper review: I should manage the plan by ensuring proper review of the personal
development plan. I will review the implemented plan on continual or interval basis so
that, if any deviation occur while implementing the plan it can be evaluated before any
consequences. However, the continual review and evaluating the personal development
plan also help in gaining leadership and management skills effectively (Barling, Slater
and Kelloway, 2010).
 Recording the achievement: However, for managing implementation of personal
development plan, I will ensure recording all the achievement and learnings which will
further help in the future for taking any decision. Through recording all the activities and
achievement, it will assist me in managing the development of skills (Parker, 2011).
9

TASK- 4
Review your personal development plan against original objectives
It has been spotted that, it is necessary for employees to have better and constant
development of skills that can boost his/her career opportunities. In support of this, the
organisation and employees can focus on reviewing personal development plan (Anderson and
Anderson, 2010).
Table 3: Review of personal development plan
KEY
OBJECTIVE/GOAL
OF EMPLOYEE
CURRENT
LEVEL OF
SKILLS
OPPORTUNITIES SUCESS RATIO
JUDGEMENT
CRITERIA
EVIDENCE
Interaction skills The person is
good at
communication
skills and he can
easily interact
with its team
members as well
as customers.
In this, person can
focus on reading
diaries, books as it will
improve my
communication skills
and help in creating
better relation with
other workers. It will
also enhance my
overall performance.
In this respect, the
Sainsbury's employee
can focus on feedback
system to judge
improvement. The
customer’s feedbacks
and internet user’s
feedbacks will provide
proper evaluation..
It can be
judged
through the
behaviour and
attitude of my
team
members and
customers.
Team effort It has been
spotted that;
person is not so
In this, the employee
of Sainsbury's can
involve involvement
Correct monitoring of
different team and my
involvement to mentor
The relation
with other
employees
10

good at team
interactions and
making any
efforts that
negatively affect
its overall
performance.
They need to
improve
interpersonal
skills so that they
can easily engage
with different
workers.
in diverse kinds of
team activity as it will
facilitate in gaining
better relation with
colleagues and others.
them will benefits
measurement to team.
and feedbacks
from the
customers as
well as
superiors.
Leadership abilities Individual is
good at
communication
and can pass on
the message to its
colleagues. The
person can also
organize all
actions
effectively but
still requires
some
improvements to
become good
leader.
Individual can go
through some
seminars and
conferences which can
improve their
leadership skills.
Correct monitoring
will also facilitate in
development.
The efficient work
management and
effective allocation of
work to team members
will help me gaining
the leadership skills.
The behaviour
of team
members and
their
feedbacks on
sales and
profit margin
ratio.
11

Evaluate the effectiveness of your personal development of leadership and management skills
The effectiveness of your personal development of leadership and management skills can
be evaluated by certain ways: Customer satisfaction: By measuring the satisfaction level of customers, I should
evaluate the effectiveness of personal development plan (Anderson and Anderson, 2010.
Increase in the sales ratio or profitability ratio will depict that, customers are satisfied
with the services which are provided by their employees. Development plan should
enhance the manager’s communication skills as well as inter-personal skills so that, they
can easily interact with customers (Manning, 2003). Determining ineffective activities: The effectiveness of the leadership and management
skills is also evaluated by determining ineffective activities which are being performed in
the organization. By determining these ineffective activities, manager can easily manage
several issues and consequences which can be occurred in the Sainsbury environment
(Haines, 2005).
 Less conflict at the workplace: However, the effectiveness of leadership and
management skills should also be measured by reviewing the rate of conflict that arises
within the Sainsbury in proper time period. By gaining skills like stress management,
time management, decision making skills etc. will lower the rate of conflict at the
workplace. Enhancing the skill of the manger will result in performing the tasks and
activities in the proper manner without arising any conflict. They should also work
collaboratively so that, they can make effective decisions (Jogulu, 2010).
Areas for further development and update your personal development plan
By revaluating proper development plan and analysing their effectiveness, manager of
Sainsbury will identify further improvement areas of the different skills that need to be enhanced
for rendering effective services to their customers (Hay and Hodgkinson, 2006). However,
Sainsbury manager should also focus on conceptual and technical skills as with the current
improvement in the technology, it will assist the individual to gain technical skills. For reducing
the workload, the individual working in the Sainsbury will stress on enhancing the knowledge or
skills by adopting new tools and equipments. For accomplishing the success in the UK market,
12

Sainsbury should also modify their development plan from time to time or in the regular interval
(Fairholm, 2004).
Skills required Activities Time period
1. Technical skills  Working on the
computer systems
 Providing proper
training and
development
1-2 months
2. Conceptual skills  Talking with superior
 Mentoring
 Education
2-3 months
Continuous development and learning plan will assist the manager of Sainsbury in
gaining knowledge and skills that will help them in the future scenario. They should also focus
on the new learning techniques like visual learning. It will help the manager in retaining the
information and knowledge for the long time period (Ehrich and English, 2012). . Training is the
process which enhances the knowledge and skills of the manager so that, the individual can
perform their duties and tasks effectively (Barling, Slater and Kelloway, 2010). This will assist
in gaining the experience and knowledge so that, the manager can effectively manage the
employees and improve their performance by guiding them. Through conducting training
sessions, they should also develop and enhance the skills of the manager. Thus, it will assist in
satisfying the needs of the market customers (Dugan, 2011).
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that, leadership and management skills will
assist the individual in attaining success in the competitive market scenario. The report has
concluded that, organizational objectives and culture have majorly impacted the role of
leadership and management in the organization. However, the report also assesses the individual
personal leadership and management skills which will support them in accomplishing the goals
and objectives. The company has also developed an effective plan to support and enhance the
skills of individual in the given time period. The report also measures different opportunities
which are provided to the manager for acquiring leadership and management skills. Further,
13

development plan is constructed for the manager to raise their skills so that, they can effectively
manage their employees in achieving the objectives. Lastly, from this report it can also be
inferred that, there are some areas that are required to be developed to enhance the skills.
14

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Anderson, L. A. and Anderson, D., 2010. The Change Leader's Roadmap: How to Navigate Your
Organization's Transformation. John Wiley & Sons.
Barling, J., Slater, F. and Kelloway, E., 2010. Transformational leadership and emotional
intelligence:An exploratory study. Leadership and Organisational Development Journal.
21. pp. 157-161.
Dugan, P. J., 2011. Pervasive myths in leadership development: unpacking constraints on
leadership learning. Journal of leadership studies. 5(2).
Ehrich, C. L. and English, W. F., 2012. What can Grassroots Leadership Teach us about School
Leadership?. Administrative Culture. 13 (2). Pp.85-108.
Fairholm, M. R., 2004. Different perspectives on the practice of leadership. Public
Administration Review. 64(5). pp.577-590.
Haines, 2005. Strategic Thinking for Leaders: The Systems Thinking Approach. Systems
Thinking Press.
Hay, A. and Hodgkinson, M., 2006. Rethinking leadership: a way forward for teaching
leadership?. Leadership & Organization Development Journal. 27(2). pp.144-158.
Jogulu, D. U., 2010. Culturally-linked leadership styles. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal. 31(8). pp.705-719.
Manning, T. T., 2003. Leadership Across Cultures: Attachment Style Influences. Journal of
Leadership & Organizational Studies. 3(9). pp. 20-30.
Parker, M., 2011. Team Players and Teamwork: New Strategies for Developing Successful
Collaboration. John Wiley & Sons.
Online
Buble, M., Juras, A. and Matic, I., 2014. the relationship between managers’ leadership styles
and motivation. [Pdf]. Available through: <https://www.efst.hr/management/Vol19No1-
2014/7-Buble_Juras_Matic.pdf>. [Accessed on 31st July 2015].
Bush, T., 2008. Leadership and Management Development in Education. [Pdf]. Available
through: <http://files.hbe.com.au/samplepages/SA4170.pdf>. [Accessed on 31st July
2015].
Clayton, J., 2014. The Five Stages of the Strategic Management Process. [Online]. Available
Through: <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/five-stages-strategic-management-process-
18785.html>. [Accessed on 31st July 2015].
Effective communication. 2011. [Online]. Available through: <http://www.cot.co.uk/standards-
ethics/effective-communication>. [Assessed on 31st July 2015].
Gagnon, M. E., 2012. the perspective and practice of leadership by managers within a state
correctional agency: an instrumental case study. [Pdf]. Available through:
<http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol7iss1/
IJLS_Vol7Iss1_Gagnon_pp48-70.pdf>. [Accessed on 31st July 2015].
15