Analysis of HRM and Leadership Styles at Debt Busters UK

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HRM AND LEADERSHIP AT DEBT BUSTERS UK
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HRM AND LEADERSHIP AT DEBT BUSTERS UK
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Contextualization of HR Issues at DEBT BUSTERS UK...............................................................3
Critical Analysis of Leadership Styles............................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
Human Resources are regarded as one of the most important departments of any organization as
the duty of handling the employees are generally executed by this department. The following
study will take into account the case study regarding the situation at DEBT BUSTERS UK and
analyze the different HR issues that the firm is currently facing. The study will also critically
analyze the different leadership styles at the firm.
Contextualization of HR Issues at DEBT BUSTERS UK
The organization of DEBT BUSTERS UK is currently facing issues of team bonding in the
context of HRM. The introduction of nine ex- GE Employees in the organizational structure gave
rise to the issue and since then the firm has been divided into two groups in the organizational
environment. The new employees came from General Electric that had a very different
organizational culture and thus, it can be said that different processes of executing different
organizational operations made the situation worse. The employees at General Electric had a
very different approach in terms of making sure that the organizational goals were specified.
Therefore, when the employees were given managerial duty in DEBT BUSTERS UK, they made
sure that goals were specified based on Cost Control, Growth and Consumer Centricity.
However, the existing employees of were used to a more leader centric approach in terms of gaol
setting which was designed to provide employees comfort. The new managers made sure that
goals were set as per the organizational interests and thus a conflict aroused between managers
and employees. It is essential that organizational objectives be set as per the interest of the
different organizational elements. It must be remembered that firms such as DEBT BUSTERS
UK can only perform effectively if the organizational elements are performing as per the
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interests of the managers and if there is co-operation and unity in between the departments. This
will ensure that operations are easy to execute and thus organizational success can be guaranteed.
Another issue that organization is witnessing is the absence of a professional organizational
culture. The organizational cultures were very much welcoming to the employees and thus there
were differences in between expected performances and actual performances. However, the
popular opinion in the business organizations in the modern firms is to give the employees
freedom as per their operations. In the case of DEBT BUSTERS UK, the culture is too much
welcoming to the employees and thus the control from the hands of the authority was lost. This
was a negative impact on the organizational environment as well as the organizations chances of
succeeding. To be successful in the obtaining the organizational objectives, this HR issue has to
be mitigated, otherwise the organization will not qualify as efficient. The reason for this
statement is very straight forward as the firm was investing large amounts of money in the
paying the employee wages and if the operational efficiency level is to be reached, then the
employees must be able to perform at desirable qualitative and quantitative benchmarks. The
new mangers recruited from General Electric were very much involved in trying to mitigate the
issue of unprofessional behaviour, however, the employees were allowed to shift from the
guidelines under the influence of the ineffective higher authority and this brings subject of the
next issue in HRM, which is conflict of authority.
The new managerial team at the organization was very much involved in making sure that the
firm is welcoming changes in the environment. However, issues of authority and bureaucracy
aroused when The Chief Operating Officer Anthony Brown favoured the old employees at the
firm and operated them under his command, which can be considered at unethical and harmful
for the organizational performances. The issue was very much affecting the organizational
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performances as ideal organizational environments have particular policies that are followed all
throughout the organizational structure. If different directions and different policies came from
different individuals or groups, then employees will be confused and thus desirable performances
will be in question. The organizations were also facing issues in this case as the HRM
Department individuals were split in between the directions coming from the new managers and
the directions coming from Anthony Brown who was a firm believer in a casual working culture
that was having a negative impact on the employee and organizational performances.
The HRM department at the organization of DEBT BUSTERS UK also witnessed issues
regarding the retention of employees and this issue can be trailed back to the department failing
to please the mangers who were welcomed into the firm due to their experience of handing a
quality based working environment at General Electric. The mangers were unsatisfied with the
bureaucracy in the organization and thus it led to four talented newly recruited employees
leaving the organization in 2014. Therefore, the ability of HR department in providing a very
much suitable working environment is an issue. For the success of DEBT BUSTERS UK, a
suitable organizational environment is very much necessary, as it will help employees to perform
better and deliver desired results.
Critical Analysis of Leadership Styles
In terms of leadership styles, there were different leadership approaches that different individuals
took upon in DEBT BUSTERS UK. As per the opinion of Northouse (2018), one of the most
important positions in an organisation are the leadership roles as these roles are essential in
controlling the employees and as mentioned before, employees are an important stakeholder
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group. It is also obvious that all details are not the same and different leaders can have different
leadership styles, which are effective in different contexts.
In the context of this case study, it must be mentioned that Anthony brown who is the Chief
Operating Officer of the organisation, is a very essential figure in terms of following leadership
styles. Anthony brown was one of the entrepreneurs of this organisation and he was also looked
upon as a influencer and motivator in the organisational environment. The leadership of Anthony
Brown can be described as effective as far as the employee interest are concerned. Anthony
Brown believed in a Transactional Leadership style, he gave the employees comfort, and
freedom as far as activities in the workplace is concerned. In exchange of this freedom, he
expected effective performance from his employees.
However as mentioned by Lussier (2015), it must be remembered that employee performances
also have to be directed towards effective directions, if organisational efficiency is the objective.
In the context of giving directions or setting policies Anthony Brown believed in following
Autocratic Leadership style. The Autocratic Leadership style is one of the common leadership
styles followed in few organisations across the world. It is opined by (), Autocratic Leader can be
categorised as a person who communicates his own visions and desires to the followers without
taking in any input from them. Therefore, it can be said that Anthony Brown was operating with
a mix of the autocratic leadership style and the transactional leadership style.
At DEBT BUSTERS UK, the transactional leadership style can have positive as well as negative
impacts on the HRM and Strategic Planning Department. The effects on the HRM department
are mostly positive as employees under his leadership will be motivated and this will help them
to perform better in their daily operations. The daily effective performance will help the strategic
department to create policies or plans based on how to develop the organisational capacity.
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However as per the opinion of Ebrahim (2016), strategic department can also face issues in
transactional leadership style as this type of leadership can only be executed if the employees are
subjected to desirable rewarding system. It is obvious that a rewarding system might cause the
operational costs to increase and this will be a negative impact on the organizational strategies
regarding cost control.
The managers who were newly recruited from the organisation of General Electric, who are used
to following a leadership style that involved gathering ideas of all the different organisational
elements. It is obvious that the managers who were newly recruited introduce the new leadership
style in the organisational environment of DEBT BUSTERS UK. The leadership style can be
defined as a Democratic Leadership as lower level employees where ask to contribute in the
decision making process and this makes sure that all the different levels of employees are on the
same page as far as executing organisational operation is concerned.
There was also the presence of a Bureaucratic Leadership style in the approach taken by the new
managers employed from General Electric. In the opinion of Day (2017), Bureaucratic Leader is
considered as one who is dedicated towards motivating his or her employees to follow the
official rules fix by the higher authorities. However, there are certain drawbacks in following this
particular style of leadership, as there is no such scope of creativity from the employees.
In terms of Human Resource Department, this kind of leadership approach can have a very
positive impact, as it will help guide the employee performances as per the organisational
desires. Therefore it will it help the HRM personnel to deliver desirable reports to higher
authority. The strategic planning department can also be helped by this kind of Bureaucratic
Leadership style as employees will be directed to follow the strategies effectively and therefore
predicted results will be easy to obtain. As mentioned by Achua (2015), one negative impact on
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the HRM department is that the employees will be facing monotony in day-to-day work and this
will reflect on their performances.
Conclusion
After the completion of this study it can be said that leadership styles and HR approaches are one
of the most important aspects of any organization and DEBT BUSTERS UK has to succeed, then
consistency must be followed in both these aspects.
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References
Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. eds., 2017. The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Boselie, P., 2016. Strategic HRM. In Encyclopedia of human resource management. Edward
Elgar Publishing Limited.
Leroy, H., Segers, J., Van Dierendonck, D. and Den Hartog, D., 2018. Managing people in
organizations: Integrating the study of HRM and leadership.
Lussier, R.N. and Achua, C.F., 2015. Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development.
Nelson Education.
Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2017. Human resource management:
Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Northouse, P.G., 2018. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Sheldon, P. and Sanders, K., 2016. Contextualizing HRM in China: differences within the
country.
Yahaya, R. and Ebrahim, F., 2016. Leadership styles and organizational commitment: literature
review. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), pp.190-216.
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