Analysis of Leadership and Management Styles at John Good Shipping

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Business report on approaches to leadership and
management in a global context
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Functional Areas and Hierarchy of Management......................................................................4
Communication in Leadership and Management.......................................................................5
Drivers of Globalisation and their impact on businesses...........................................................7
Comparison of styles of Leadership/Management.....................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
Reference List..........................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
A business is a commercial activity through which a person or group of people are able to
sustain themselves by providing products and services. The importance of businesses in a
society is that it helps the economy to grow and provide commodities to the customers
through which they attain high utility. For the purpose of this report, John Good Shipping has
been chosen which is a logistical warehousing and shipping company that is situated
Kingston upon Hull, United Kingdom. The company has around 200 employees in its lean
session and around 300 subordinates in its peak time. The revenue stream of the organisation
is over £90,000 (Martin, 2019). In this report, various aspects such as the hierarchy,
communication, leadership, and globalisation will be explored.
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Functional Areas and Hierarchy of Management
Within an organisation like John Good Shipping, several functional areas help the company
to function better. It is through the unified effort of these departments that there is superior
management of goods in the company and resources can be allocated in a better manner
through which productivity increases. Some of the core functional areas within an enterprise
have been enlisted here down below:
Human Resource Management – This department consists of managers that help in the
management of employees so that they are able to perform better and be rewarded for the
effort that they put in (Noe et al., 2017). These personnel help in providing motivation to the
employees and assist in distributing benefits such as bonuses, incentives, and other items.
They also help in the recruitment process of the company and help in hiring employees with
diversified skills.
Financial Management – Within this department, individuals are in a position where they
manage the accounts of the company and help in creating budgets, forecasting the financial
future, and help in distributing investments of the company to proper locations.
Marketing Management – In order to push the visibility of John Good Shipping in the
industry, the marketing team must perform tasks such as creating advertisement campaigns in
both online and offline medium through which more consumers can be reached. This would
help in pushing the sales of the company and bringing more revenue. Personnel in this
department assist in performing primary and secondary through which an understanding of
the wants and needs of the company can be ascertained and products and services can be
created as per the wants of the customers (Armstrong et al., 2014).
In John Good Shipping, the hierarchy of the company can be divided into three layers,
which include Top, Middle, and Low levels. All these stages have been illustrated here down
below:
Top Level – In this level, people such as board of directors, CEO, and other key people are
included. These people help in causing and bringing change to the enterprise and assist in
creating an atmosphere of leadership through which people can be pushed to perform better
(Cavusgil et al., 2014). Furthermore, individuals here make sure that legal aspects provided
by the government are complied here and there is better ethical performance within the
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company through which workforce of John Good Shipping is made better. The top-level
management also assists organisational planning, through this process specific task and
objectives are illustrated for each department in the organisation. For instance, in the case of
Human Resource Management, they determine the number of employees that are required.
Figure 1: Hierarchy of John Good Shipping
(Source: Cavusgil et al., 2014)
Middle Level – At this stage individual such as regional manager, plant manager and other
major heads are included that look over working of John Good Shipping. On this level, these
managerial heads are in a position whereby they are made to solve organisational problems,
build productive teams and help the performance of talented employees grow. Additionally,
these heads analyse the performance of employees so that they the reasons why they are over
or under performing is utilized.
Low Level – Here there are individuals such as team leader, assistant manager, shift
manager, and others. These people are emotionally adaptable and can quickly assess a
situation through which they are able to lead and direct small teams (Jeston, 2014). They help
and provide the pathway through which employees can be coached so that their skill level
increases and their abilities are elevated.
Communication in Leadership and Management
Communication is the way through information and ideas are exchanged within a company.
Through good communication, better relationships are built between employees and
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employers within John Good Shipping. Communication is central to this enterprise as it
assists in elevating the leadership through distribution of work and helps in ascertaining
what the core needs of the employees are (Shockley-Zalabak, 2014). Through
communication, employees can be allocated appropriate work to them and their strategies and
weaknesses can be revealed to the management. The basic model of communication has
been illustrated below:
Figure 2: Communication model by Claude Elwood Shannon
(Soruce: Adler et al., 2016)
In this model, there are two core parties, include the sender and receiver. The sender creates
and encodes the message and utilizes a channel through which message is transferred to
another party (Adler et al., 2016). Additionally when the receiver gets the message, they
formulate a feedback, which the receiver forwards to the sender, and the circle of
communication completes.
It is the duty of the managerial heads of John Good Shipping to utilize communication
skills well so that they are able to motivate the employees well in an optimize way and help
their output flourish.
Interdepartmental communication is the way through which major groups within the
enterprise such as accounting, marketing, human resource and others interact within each
other so that there is better information exchange. Some examples where interdepartmental
communication is effective have been elaborated here down below:
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 When the marketing team of the enterprise wishes to push its marketing it requires a
high quantum of finance through which the design, resources and other aspects of the
company can be deployed (Lear et al., 2015). In order to attain this investment, the
company must communicate with the accounting department so that create
provisions through which cash can be allocated for the endeavours of the marketing
team of John Good Shipping. Performing this would help the organisation create
marketing campaigns that specific to the shipping and warehousing industry.
 The research and development team of John Good Shipping is in a constant state
investigation of answers through which they can address what appeals to the
consumers better. When this is reached, the team reaches a new form of innovation
whereby they communicate the data to different departments such as marketing,
operations, and others that enable them to function. If this department understands
that, there are better ideas and designs that would directly appeal to the consumers,
and then they can help change the marketing efforts of the company so that more
customers are reached who use the shipping service.
Drivers of Globalisation and their impact on businesses
Globalisation is the way through which a company tries to fit into the international context
and tries to diversify not only its products but also attempts to elevate its employee base
(Potrafke, 2015). Drivers of globalisation are those factors that help the company change the
way in which an enterprise functions and assists them to move in a different direction. Some
of the core drivers of globalisation can be illustrated through the Yip’s Framework, which
has been enlisted here down below:
Technological drivers - Technological development helps shape the foundation of an
organisation. In the case of John Good Shipping, the more advanced the technology is, the
better information can be safeguarded within sophisticated computers and sensitive will not
be leaked. Better technology can help the company implement new machines as well that
would help the business increase its way of automation technology that would create a way
through which human effort is reduced (Ellul, 2018).
Market drivers – These are factors such as inflation, performance of the stock market,
availability of the consumers and others elements that assist the company to know which
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elements are prevailing the industry. Through assessment of these elements, John Good
Shipping is able to be a state where it is prepare the market.
Governmental drivers – The laws and regulation, which are imposed on a company by the
government, are included here. These include international laws, which control the market
through intercontinental treaties, and laws that help a company function better.
Figure 3: Yip’s Framework
(Soruce: Potrafke, 2015)
Political drivers – In the local context as well the international context, there are several
political drivers, which effect originations. Some instances which can be illustrated are
incidents such Brexit in UK, the event of demonization in India and others events around the
world.
Cost drivers – Cost drives are factors that include elements such as cost of raw material,
logistical cost, warehousing cost, manufacturing cost and others. These drivers help rating the
price at which the final product will be provided to the end user, it also help the company
determine if the consumer react better to high or low prices.
Competitive drivers – In the local as well as the international market, several companies are
present (Kirzner, 2015). These enterprises include companies such as Maersk, Evergreen
Marine Corporation and others. These companies are bigger than John Good Shipping and
pose a direct threat to the company.
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Social and Demographic – These are cultural factors, which are different from the
company’s background. These factors put the company in a position whereby which they are
forced to adapt.
The way in which all of these drives of globalisation impact John Good Shipping has been
illustrated below:
 It enables the company to know what innovations, machines and techniques that are
present in the market, which enable the company to change the way in which it is
operating.
 With higher competition present in the market, the company can know what prices;
products are strategies they are up against. This creates a situation through which the
managerial heads of the John Good Shipping can make better decisions.
Comparison of styles of Leadership/Management
Leadership is the methods through individuals are pushed to perform better in the market.
Through good leader, employees are motivated and feel more connected with the endeavours
of the organisation (Daft, 2014). There are different styles of leadership, which include,
autocratic leadership, democratic, coaching, pace setting and others.
A comparison between two leadership styles has been illustrated here down below:
Basis of difference Autocratic leadership style Democratic leadership style
Type Task focused style that is
directive in nature
(Antonakis, 2017).
Relation focused style that
helps companies become
more participative in
company activities.
Focus Job orientated Employee orientated
Exchange Transactional leadership Transformational leadership
Figure 4: Comparison between Two Leadership Styles
(Source: Created by the leaner)
A contrast between these the above two leadership styles have been detailed here down
below:
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 Both of these styles put emphasis on increasing the productivity of the company and
help the employees give more output.
 These styles try to finish and the achieve task completion in the least amount of
possible time.
When an organisation implements democratic leadership, the employees are given a chance
to feel like they are part of the enterprise. Leaders instil this feeling by giving the employees
a chance so that they put forth their opinions, ideas, and thoughts in front of the managerial
heads in times of decision making. Furthermore, by doing this, at an organisational level
positivity is spread through which an atmosphere of making subordinates feel more inclusive
is created. Increasing the credibility of the employees in the organization would result in
increasing their productivity. With increase productivity from the employees, global
organizations would be able sustain in the competitive market.
In the context of John Good Shipping, the leadership style, which is more appropriate for
the company, is democratic form of leadership. Through this style, there is better flow of
ideas within the organisation and employees are given the chance to participant in the
shipping decisions of the company. With a strategy such as this, the subordinates can inform
the managerial heads about the work pressure that prevail in the work area and if the
machines that assist in transport are in the optimal state or not. Through a process like this,
the employees can feel valued for the effort, which they put and feel more motivated for the
tasks, which they perform (Cameron et al., 2014).
Furthermore, this would enable the company reward the employees more appropriately for
the effort that they put in and would assist managerial heads to know if the employees get
more utility from intrinsic or extrinsic factors.
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Conclusion
In the above study, an investigation in the case of John Good shipping has been provided.
This particular report can be divided into four major parts. In the first part of this report,
several functional departments such as human resources, marketing, and others have been
illustrated. Following which, the importance of communication to a company’s leadership
and management has been illustrated along with the way in which the interdepartmental
communication in John Good Shipping is detailed. After which, the current drivers of
globalisation through Yip’s Framework has been illustrated. Finally a difference and contrast
between autocratic leadership, and democratic leadership and been provided and the
justification for why democratic leadership in the case of John Good Shipping has been
evaluated.
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Reference List
Adler, R.B., Rodman, G.R. and Du Pré, A., 2016. Understanding human communication
(Vol. 10). Oxford University Press.
Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. eds., 2017. The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. and Kotler, P., 2014. Principles of marketing. Pearson
Australia.
Cameron, K.S., Quinn, R.E., DeGraff, J. and Thakor, A.V., 2014. Competing values
leadership. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Cavusgil, S.T., Knight, G., Riesenberger, J.R., Rammal, H.G. and Rose, E.L., 2014.
International business. Pearson Australia.
Daft, R.L., 2014. The leadership experience. Cengage Learning.
Ellul, J., 2018. The technological system. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Jeston, J., 2014. Business process management. Routledge.
Kirzner, I.M., 2015. Competition and entrepreneurship. University of Chicago press.
Lear, J.L., Hodge, K.A. and Schulz, S.A., 2015. Talk to me!! Effective, efficient
communication. The Journal of Research in Business Education, 57(1), p.64.
Martin, 2019. UK Shipping Agents | Freight Forwarder | Shipping Company - John Good.
[online] UK Shipping Agents | Freight Forwarder. Available at: https://www.johngood.co.uk/
[Accessed 15 Apr. 2019].
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.
Potrafke, N., 2015. The evidence on globalisation. The World Economy, 38(3), pp.509-552.
Shockley-Zalabak, P., 2014. Fundamentals of organizational communication. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson.
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