Leadership Theories and Management Styles

This assignment delves into the realm of leadership theories and their influence on management styles. It requires students to analyze different theories such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and explore how these theories translate into practical leadership approaches. The assignment emphasizes the importance of understanding various leadership models, their strengths and weaknesses, and their application in diverse organizational settings. Students are encouraged to draw upon real-world examples and case studies to illustrate their comprehension of leadership concepts.

Working With And Leading People

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Preparing job description and person specification for the post of personal assistant..........1
1.2 The effect of legal, regulatory and ethical considerations on recruitment and selection
process.........................................................................................................................................2
1.3 Explaining the three stages of selection process...................................................................3
1.4 Evaluation of the importance of the contribution of me in selection process for the job.....4
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................4
2.1 The main theories and styles of leadership, emphasizing the skills and attributes ..............4
2.2 Explaining the difference between leadership and management .........................................5
2.3 Effective leadership styles for specific situations.................................................................6
2.4 Use of motivational theories to encourage the workers to meet objectives..........................6
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................7
3.1 The benefits of team based approach for the team and organization....................................7
3.2 As a team manager, dealing with conflict and move the situation on...................................7
3.3 Methods used for determining the effectiveness of digital marketing team to meet
objectives.....................................................................................................................................7
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Monitoring and assessment of work performance of the team and team members..............8
4.2 Explaining the process to produce personal development plans ..........................................8
4.3 Evaluating the success of assessment process for improving the performance ...................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Success of a business is based on the people working in the organization and recruitment
of the talented candidate is essesntial for successful business establishment. Organizations with
efficient recruitment and selection process are the one who has effective workforce
(Connaughton and Daly, 2004). Leadership plays crucial role in the organization in order to
manage workforce in an effectual way. A great leader in the organization motivate, encourage
and inspire its workforce for better performance which also helps in achieving goals and
objectives of the organization. The present report is based on a case scenario of luxury cosmetics
brand of London in which I am appointed as a manager in the digital marketing team. This report
will showcase the recruitment, selection and retention procedure, leadership styles and its impact
with working effectively in a team and the work and development needs of individual.
TASK 1
1.1 Preparing job description and person specification for the post of personal assistant
Job description for the important post of personal assistant is as follows,
JOB Description
Title: Personal Assistant
Report to: Team Manager
Summary of the Position:
Working with Senior manager to provide administrative support and dealing with
secretarial and administrative tasks with extensive knowledge of the organization.
Duties and Responsibilities:
 Devising and maintaining office systems with filing and managing data.
 Arranging travel, accommodation and visa with manager for meetings and
providing assistance during the meetings (Lengnick-Hall, 2007).
 Screening phone calls, requests, inquiries and dealing with them.
 Meeting and greeting visitors.
 Organizing and maintaining schedules and making appointments.
 Producing documents, reports and presentations.
 Organizing and attending meetings as well as ensuring that manager is prepared
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for the meetings.
 Carrying background research and presenting findings.
The person specification for the post of personal assistant is as follows,
Person Specification
1. Essential Requirements:
Good knowledge of computer skill and knowledge of Microsoft office application. Knowledge
and capability of developing an effective understanding of the operations of the organization
and team manager (Karp and Helgø, 2008).Experience of working as personal assistant and
ability to meet the objectives and targets.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills- with regards to,
 Communicating and dealing with staff, suppliers and customers (Lepsinger and DeRosa,
2010).
 Good Presentation skills.
 Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
Basic numeracy and global knowledge.
 Capable to prepare reports and scheduling of business meetings.
2. Desirable Experience / Abilities
Previous Experience:
 Experience of drafting letter and sending emails.
 Use of word processing and other software.
 Experience of organizing and creating minute of meetings.
 Experience of working with clerical/ administrative capacity and other procedures of
personal assistant.
 Significant experience of dealing with queries of staff, suppliers and other business
associate.
1.2 The effect of legal, regulatory and ethical considerations on recruitment and selection process
The recruitment and selection process in luxury cosmetic brand is going beyond some
rules and legal implication. Thus, the effect of legal, regulatory and ethical consideration on
recruitment and selection process is as follows,
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 Short listing stage: With regards to ethical and legal consideration, organization cannot
short list the candidates by dividing according to cast, race and gender (O'Loughlin,
2011). However, organization should use fair recruitment and selection policy by
providing equal opportunity to all applicants for the post of personal assistant. Assessment center stage: In assessment center, manager measures suitability of the
candidate for the job. Thus, while measuring the suitability of the person, cited firm
should provide equal opportunity to all candidates with reference to the job
responsibilities (Pitkala and et. al. 2004). The management cannot measure their
suitability on the basis of their religion, gender and nationality.
 Final interview stage: Interview process of luxury cosmetic brand must obey all the
legal, regulatory and ethical consideration. The interview boards should not ask any
questions which harm the religious views of candidate with regards to religion,
nationality or community (Hackman, 2004). The interview panel should avoid personal
biasness. They should ask questions related to their job profile and their qualifications.
However, it is important for the organizations to use fair policy and provide equal
opportunity to applicants for the post of personal assistant by considering all the laws, regulatory
and ethical framework.
1.3 Explaining the three stages of selection process
Being a line manager in Luxury cosmetic brand, I will involve myself in selection
process by considering all the legal, regulatory and ethical policies developed by the government
of UK. The stages of selection process are as follows, Short listing stage: With reference to the applications received for the post of personal
assistant, I will shortlist the candidates by using different short listing method. I will short
list the application by viewing their qualification for the job post and their capabilities in
their past job. Apart from this, I will also use IQ test method, written test etc. After short
listing the suitable candidates, I will arrange for the interview of the short listed
candidates. Assessment center stage: Being a line manager, I will assess the suitability for the job
post of the shortlisted candidates by telephonic interview and face to face interview. In
telephonic interview, I will ask about the general capabilities of the candidate and
experience from the previous job. Through these telephonic interviews and short
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interviews, I will measure the communication skills and other capabilities to perform the
job.
 Final interview stage: Being a line manager, at the time of final interview of candidate I
will ask questions about themselves, their education background, experience, knowledge
and cultural background etc. In the final stage of interview, I will examine the suitability
of the candidate with regards to job description and person specification. The final
interview will decide the deserving candidates and the employee will be selected for the
post of personal assistant.
1.4 Evaluation of the importance of the contribution of me in selection process for the job
With regards to my contribution in the recruitment and selection process, being a line
manager I have participated effectively in all the stages of selection process. I took part in
preparing necessary documents for selecting the personal assistant. I had participated in short
listing process of suitable candidate for the job position. For short listing the candidates, I have
utilized various methods. For instance, I had conducted IQ test of all the applicants. Furthermore,
after short listing the potential candidates, I have taken their telephonic interview. In the
telephonic interview I asked the employees about their capabilities and relevant experience for
the job. However, there were some candidates who were not appropriate for the post, these
candidates were rejected and then I arranged for the final interview of the suitable candidates for
the post of personal assistant in luxury cosmetics.
Being a line manager in the final interview, I examined the candidate's communication
skills and other capabilities by asking questions regarding their educational background,
experience, capability and cultural background etc. furthermore, the suitable candidate was
selected by discussing with human resource department and other key persons of the luxury
cosmetics.
TASK 2
2.1 The main theories and styles of leadership, emphasizing the skills and attributes
Leadership theories and styles have same qualities and attributes in some cases.
Leadership is about standing out of the crowd, even when management is bureaucratic nature
(Zauderer, 2005). The main leadership theories are as follows,
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 Behavioral theory: Behavioral theory of leadership is based on set of behaviors. They are
developed on the series of actions and situations that indicates different leadership style.
 Contingency theory: The contingency theory of leadership depicts the to organize the
business by effective leadership and decision making. However, the decision making and
action plan is always based on internal and external situations.
Furthermore, the main leadership styles are as follows, Autocratic leadership: The autocratic leadership style is used when leader does not
involve their team member in decision making and have full control over the teams with
low independence within the group (Xu and Van der Heijden, 2005).
 Democratic leadership: Democratic leadership style is also known as participative
leadership style in which leader involves all their team members’ opinion and suggestion
in the decision making.
Being a digital marketing manager, the most suitable leadership for team development is
democratic leadership style. Through this style of leadership, I can take suggestion and opinions
from my team members and choose appropriate suggestion for the development of team. This
style of leadership will increase participation of team members.
2.2 Explaining the difference between leadership and management
The difference between leadership and management is as follows,
Leadership Management
 Leadership is an ability of an individual
to influence and motivate the people to
contribute in the success and
effectiveness of the organization.
 Leadership is people oriented and
focuses on leading people.
Being a digital marketing manager, the
essential element for me in leadership was
influencing team members supporting them in
completing the task (Johnson, 2015). Through
effective leadership ability, I completed the
 Management direct and controls group
of people for achieving the goals and
objectives (Samele, 2004).
 Management is task oriented and
focuses on managing work.
However, being a digital marketing manager,
the special element of management for me is
its task oriented nature. With the help of
management I created strategies, policies and
methods to build up teams that operate work
smoothly. Management focuses on
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task efficiently with my problem solving
ability and creative solutions. In leadership, my
focus was on commitment and motivation and
encouragement for my team.
empowering people by values, principles and
views to achieve the success.
2.3 Effective leadership styles for specific situations
There are eight leadership styles based on Myers Briggs/Jung Typology. These eight
leadership styles are democratic, ideological, change oriented, visionary, and executive, theorist,
action oriented as well as goal oriented etc. However, these leadership styles can be adopted in
any situation in the organization (Whitney, Trosten‐Bloom and Rader, 2010). However, in the
situation of online emergency when website crashed for two weeks in the crucial period of
Christmas, shopping leader made fast and effective decision of resolving the problem. Thus, in
this situation Autocratic leadership would be more effective.
Further, in the next situation, unexpected increase of annual budget is released for the
team. Thereby, for utilizing this extra £10,000 the involvement of team is essential. However,
being a leader, I will use democratic style of leadership and take opinion of all my team members
for making decision about advantageous use of extra annual budget.
2.4 Use of motivational theories to encourage the workers to meet objectives
Being a digital marketing manager, I will encourage the workers by using various
motivational theories. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs people are divided into five
basic needs such as, physiological, safety, self esteem belongingness and self actualization.
However, the employee who is in physiological need I will motivate them by giving them
financial rewards and incentives. Similarly, the employee who is in safety and security need I
will motivate them by providing them with job security, performance appraisals etc.
Furthermore, according to Herzberg's theory of motivation I will motivate the employees
by providing them with healthy and positive work environment. This will give them job
satisfaction and employees will work effectively at the workplace. Moreover, I can use many
techniques to motivate the workforce. I will motivate them by providing incentives, recognizing
their achievements and individual employee's performance. This will encourage them for
improving performance and even help in increasing online sales by 50% in current financial
year.
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TASK 3
3.1 The benefits of team based approach for the team and organization
Team work of digital marketing team helps in improving overall organizational
performance. There are so many benefits of the team based approach to both the organization as
well as team. Team work improves employees' morale. It allows the employees to work with
greater responsibilities of decision making and take command over work process (Lipnack and
Stamps, 2008). Moreover, team work in the organization allows the business to be more flexible
by bringing employees from diverse parts. The team based approach also increases the
innovation in the organization. The team based approach in the organization will help in
improving organizational performance and assist in increasing the sales and revenue of the firm.
However, team based approach is beneficial for both team and the organization in order
to improve overall organizational performance. The team based approach can improve team's
morale for better performance and increasing innovation for achieving goals and objectives of
the organization.
3.2 As a team manager, dealing with conflict and move the situation on
Being a team manager, my responsibility is to resolve conflicts within the organization.
Thereby, I will deal with the conflicts by asking my team members about the conflicts. Poor
communication is the main reason for the conflicts. I will analyze behavior and performance of
team members and identify expectation of the team members. By knowing the expectations of
my team members, I can understand the nature of my team members and accordingly I can
resolve their issues one by one. Further, I will also improve communication within the team so
that conflicts do not arise again. Moreover, I will motivate team members for their better
performance. This will help in increasing sales and revenue of the organization and team
members will be able to achieve the targets successfully.
3.3 Methods used for determining the effectiveness of digital marketing team to meet objectives
The effectiveness of digital marketing team to meet the objectives can be determined by
following methods, Increased online sales: The effectiveness of digital marketing team can be reviewed in
increasing online sales by 50% in the current financial year. Being a team manager, I had
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motivated team for improving the performance and increasing sales of the organization
and this helped to meet objective of digital marketing team.
 Improved performance: The effectiveness of digital marketing team can be also
measured by reviewing their improved performance. Improvement in each team
member's performance can increase sales and revenue of the luxury cosmetic (Lev,
2013).
Hence, the effectiveness of digital marketing team can be viewed by increased sales and
improvement in performance to meet the objectives.
TASK 4
4.1 Monitoring and assessment of work performance of the team and team members
Being a manager of digital marketing team, I will monitor and assess the work
performance of my team and team members by including following factors, Appraisal processes: I will monitor performance of team and individual team member
and provide them performance appraisal on their effective performance. The performance
appraisals plays significant role in motivating the team members. However, to give the
performance appraisals individual’s employee’s performance will be assessed. Diversity issues: The diversity in team members can make more effective team. The
diversified nature of team will be beneficial for the team in specializing in different area
of work and team will possess expert members of diverse area of work.
 The use of feedback: I will take individual team members suggestions and feedback for
developing system and involving them in the decision making process. This will increase
their participation in team and team will be able to perform better.
4.2 Explaining the process to produce personal development plans
Through the use of monitoring and assessment process, I can identify the capabilities and
limitations of my team. However, it has been identified through the factors that personal assistant
have weak communication skills. Thus, personal development plan is as follows,
Objective/Goal Current
proficiency
Skills to develop Available
opportunities
Criteria for
judging skill
Dev.
Time frame.
Communicatio Moderate Interpersonal Workshops, Effective verbal 3 Months.
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n skills communication
and written
communication
seminars and written
communication
Time
Management
Low
Proficiency
Event
management,
scheduling
Time bound
activities and
workshops on
time
management
Effective time
management and
Multitasking
2 Months.
Computer
literacy
Moderate Efficiency on use
of software and
MS office.
Coaching and
workshops
Effective reports
and tests.
4 Months.
4.3 Evaluating the success of assessment process for improving the performance
Being a team manager, the success of the assessment process for improving the
performance can be evaluated by following methods, Bench-marking: For evaluating the success of assessment process for improving the
performance, I will use bench-marking method. Through bench-marking, I can compare
performance of each employee with the established standard of the organization. With the
help of this method I can evaluate their previous performance and improvement in
performance.
 Skill improvement: Furthermore, I will evaluate my team member's performance by
analyzing development in skills and knowledge. Through improving skills and
knowledge team can easily meet its objectives and increase the sales and revenue of the
organization. Thus, the success of the assessment process for improving performance can
be evaluated by reviewing improvement in skills.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded in this report that effective leadership is essential in the
organization to improve the performance of workforce and for increasing the sales and revenue
of the organization. Leadership is a process of influencing people to work effectively to achieve
goals and objectives of the organization. Further, working with and leading people issue can be
resolved by better understanding of leadership and management. However, leadership skills are
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people oriented and focus more on the leading people. On the other hand, Management is task
oriented and focuses on managing the work and people. This report provides effective discussion
over recruitment, selection and retention procedures and different types of leadership and its
impact on the organization and team members. Thereby, leadership is essential in the
organization in order to improve organizational performance.
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