Leadership and Management Practices in Asda: A Comprehensive Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of leadership and management practices within Asda, a major UK retail company. It begins with an introduction to the core concepts of leadership and management, differentiating between the two and highlighting their importance for organizational success. The report then delves into Asda's background and the rationale behind the analysis, followed by a comprehensive literature review exploring various leadership styles, including transformational, autocratic, democratic, and transactional approaches. The report further examines management practices such as autocratic management, communication strategies, motivation techniques, and employee training programs. It then discusses various strategies employed by Asda, including motivation and reward systems, the importance of teamwork, and decision-making processes. The analysis section evaluates the effectiveness of these strategies in achieving organizational goals, and the report concludes with recommendations for further improvement. This report is a valuable resource for students studying leadership and management, offering insights into real-world applications and challenges within a large retail organization.

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Company background.................................................................................................................4
Rationale.....................................................................................................................................4
Literature review..............................................................................................................................4
Leadership style..........................................................................................................................4
Management practices.................................................................................................................4
Various strategies........................................................................................................................4
Analyses...........................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
RECOMMENDATION ..................................................................................................................4
REFRENCE.....................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Leadership and management of the organisation are the crucial elements. Leadership is
concerned with the potency of the leader to influence people working within the organisation so
that goals and objectives can be attained more effectively and efficiently (Amanchukwu and et.
al., 2015). Management is concerned with accepting the responsibilities towards accomplishing
business goals for which they plan, organises, directs and controls the functions and operations in
the company. People mistakenly considers the two terms similar in nature but in real essence
these two terms are entirely different and have separate sets of aims, objectives, functions, roles
and responsibilities. This report will explain the various leadership styles and management
practices. It will further analyses that how company can attain the established aims and
objectives.
Company background
Organisation undertaken in this report is Asda which was founded in 1949 and is one of
the biggest retail industry in UK. It serves products like grocery, general merchandise and
financial services (Bolden, 2016). Apart from these main services, the company also offers
mobile phone services which ensures the existence of EE network. It has simple and fresh store
format. In recent developments of the stores, the company has several other facilities like large
stores of Asda offers petrol filling station, cafeteria, restaurants and refreshments for the
customers and shoppers.
Rationale
Leadership and Management are indivisible in existence and so if there is management,
there is leadership. In fact, the choice of a manager necessitated leadership skills to encourage
their subordinate (Bolman and Deal, 2017). Therefore, the main rationale behind the report is to
understand that management and leadership sounds similar but have different approaches, styles
and theories.
Literature review
According to Braden Backer 2018, leadership style is a fluid practice. For this purpose,
leaders are always required to alter and modify the manner and improving the way in which the
company is required to direct the people and taking initiatives in growing analyses (Leadership
Styles, 2018).

According to Newstorm 2018, leadership styles are the manner and approaches of
rendering direction, implementing plans and motivating people.
According to Luke C 2018, management is concerned with getting work done through the
people. It is concerned with implying the importance of leadership and peoples skills in a
management practices to accomplish optimal results (Management of the Company, 2018).
Leadership style.
Leadership styles are the behavioural patterns which are adopted by the leader to
influence behaviour of its followers. The type of leadership style available in an organisation has
a great deal to do with the implementation of strategies (Cherry and Jacob, 2016). They are very
important for the Asda because it helps in taking risk which can generate high returns, initiatives
in advanced technical aspects, etc. However, having a thorough understanding of various
leadership styles allows management of the company to adopt correct traits for themselves and
also for the organisation. There are various leadership styles which a leader can use in its
operations and they are discussed below :
 Transformational leadership : This style is concerned with transforming and improving
the companies effectiveness. In this, the employees are assigned with the relevant tasks or
work which are required to be completed within a week or month but the leaders
constantly pushes them to work our of their comfort zone (Fernández-Muñiz, Montes-
Peón and Vázquez-Ordás, 2014). This form of leadership is highly motivated form
because it encourages and inspires the people to realise the capabilities of the same.
 Autocratic leadership : In this leadership style, the decisions are made by the leader and
they does not take suggestions or advices from other people or sub ordinates. This style is
highly suitable when quick and rapid decisions are taken. But in reality, this leadership is
not effective because people resist to work in such organisation where they are not
consulted and their needs and sentiments are not taken into account.
 Democratic leadership : In this type of styles, decisions are taken by leader but before
taking final decision, they take advices, suggestion and share the views with the
employees. This style creates friendly relations between the people and they work with
full zeal and confidence to accomplish desired organisational goals and objectives. This

is the most effective leadership style because it allows lower level people to practice
authority and people feel attentive, respect, motivated.
 Transactional leadership : This leadership style is common now a days. It helps in
establishing roles and responsibilities for the employees and uses various incentive
programs and practices so that they can motivate employees. This begins with the
purpose that team of the people agrees with the leaders and obey and respect them when
the job is accepted by them (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). This is mostly present in every
business and offers benefits. For instance, in Asda, it elucidate everyone's roles and
responsibilities. And, because transactional leadership judges team members on
performance, people who are aspirant or motivated by external rewards like
compensation, often prosper.
Management practices.
Management practices is concerned with the working methods and innovations which are
used by the managers to improve effectiveness of work systems. Different management styles
will cause various contexts depending on the company culture, the size of the team or
organisation, the nature of the work or industry and the particular personalities involved.
Therefore, the best management practices can be found through the most effective and practical
means in attaining a business objectives by making an optimum use of organisations resources.
There are various management practices which will be used by the Asda and they are discussed
below :
 Autocratic management style : It is a form of leadership which allows directors to make
decisions one-sided. Such leaders do not ask or communicate about the permission or
acceptance and the considerations of associative (Hallinger and Wang, 2015). They do
whatever they feel is essential in order to accomplish a goal. In relation to treatment of
subordinates, there are two types of autocratic management namely, directive autocrat
and permissive autocrat leaders. If this style is properly practices by the manager than it
will contribute in successfully running a business because will have less control over the
decision making procedure.
 Communication : This is concerned with the exchange of ideas, thoughts, advices and
objectives of the business. It is very crucial practice and for this organisation must

develop proper structure in which information can be flow between different departments
and people. This will help them in working as per the shared vision and mission of the
company.
 Motivation : Management is highly concerned with providing adequate motivation to the
people within the organisation which is very important so that organisational goals can be
achieved effectively and efficiently (Larson and Gray, 2017). For this purpose,
management of Asda will ensure financial and non financial motivation techniques. In
financial technique of motivation, it will involve incentives, bonuses, remuneration, etc.
while non financial incentive will include respect, recognition, enrichment, etc.
 Training : Management of Asda will also concentrate on providing training to the its
employees. It is the practice of management to identify the needs and kind of training
required in the system. These training is necessary for the continuous learning and
improvement of the employees.
Various strategies.
There are various strategies which has been used by the Asda to enhance the people
ability so that the desired objectives can be accomplished effectively and efficiently and they are
discussed below :
Motivation and rewards : It is very crucial for the organisation. It is the behaviour
which cannot be developed but influences with the help of rewards. Motivation is an internal
force, mutualist on the inevitability that drive a person to accomplish goals. . In the other words,
motivation is a outcome of expectations of the future while satisfaction is a consequence of past
event (McCaffery, 2018). Motivation and reward system help staff work more efficiency. Also,
the system can be attractive more key staff, who have got high degrees or prefect skills.
All businesses want to be flourishing and depend on their employees to help in making
company successful. Adding incentives to an employee pack can help in the success of a
company. Employees that are positively motivated will have higher levels of productivity
whereas employees with lower levels of motivation and job satisfaction may produce less.
Motivation can be accomplished through various means, including equality, positive
reinforcement, discipline and punishment among others. It is also the ambition of attaining

objective combined with the efforts to work toward the goal. There are different ways to
motivate employees in a workplace depending on the overall organizational goal.
Groups and teams : Team work is very important in the business context because it not
only helps in accomplishing business goals but this develops the surroundings of the company
such that it will create health and comfortable atmospheric conditions where people will be able
to work with full confidence and concentration because the business environment will be free
from conflict as well. In asda, people will work with all other members of the company because
team working is very important and is a useful tool for taking and sharing ideas. A successful
team is one where, everybody's specific skills and strength helps the team to accomplish business
goals and objectives in the most effective manner.
Decision making : It is the process of making decisions based on relevant choices among
two or more competitive positions. It is very important in the business organisation and Asda
needs to work effectively on taking various decisions relating to the finance, worker's safety,
recruitment policies, marketing decisions, conflict resolution decisions, etc. These decisions play
a very great role to accomplish the business goals (Renz, 2016). Apart from this, in immediate
situations, the leaders and management uses autocratic leadership styles because quick decisions
are required to be taken and they themselves takes decision without taking suggestions or advices
from the people. Whereas in stable business situations, leaders and managers will consult sub
ordinates before taking decisions. This will develop friendly environment and people will feel
motivated. Apart from this, decisions taken in relation to the conflict resolution must be such
that it does not harm the sentiments of any of the groups and people will be satisfied with the
decision taken. Therefore, decision making plays a very crucial role and organisation also uses
forecasting in many cases before implementing or executing the decision taken to develop
contingent outcomes or results.
Analyses
From the implementation of above discussed strategies the Asda has accomplished
successful in its operations and functioning. It has helped in emphasising more on employees
because no organisation can attain success without employees. Happier employees are treated as
an asset for the company and so decisions must be taken which are favourable and positively
contributes in making them comfortable and appropriate for the company. This is because when

employees are satisfied with the practices followed by the leader and management then they will
contribute in the success of the company by accomplishing business goals and objectives
effectively and efficiently.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that leadership and management are two
crucial elements which looks similar but are totally different from each other. They have
different sets of roles, responsibilities and practices. Without effective leadership and
management policies, no organisation can attain success in its operations. For this purpose,
various leadership styles and management practices are adopted by the company so that
organisational goals and objectives can be fulfilled. Apart from this, the company has used
various strategies which has helped in motivating people, encourages their confidence level and
they contribute at their best to attain goals.
RECOMMENDATION
From the above report it has been recommended that organisation should focus more on
practising motivation and rewards because every individual works for certain level of motivation
either financially or non financially. They should provide such practices in the company so that
employees can maintain proper work life balance. They should also focus more on developing
various innovative tactics relating to decision making, so that people understands the importance
of various decisions taken into the company are important and needed to followed very
thoroughly.

REFRENCE
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McCaffery, P., 2018. The higher education manager's handbook: effective leadership and
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