The Iconic: Logistics Challenges, Leadership Styles, and Solutions

This report examines the logistics challenges faced by The Iconic, an Australian online fashion retailer, focusing on issues within its supply chain, including seamless shipping, fraud in cash on delivery, handling high-value seasonal volumes, and the impact of government regulations. It analyzes the application of situational leadership styles to address these problems, detailing the directing, coaching, delegating, and supporting approaches. The report also outlines an intervention program for The Iconic, involving problem identification, goal determination, plan implementation, decision-making processes, and evaluation and control mechanisms to improve organizational performance. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of leadership in overcoming logistics obstacles and enhancing operational efficiency.

Management and
Information System

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
OVERVIEW OF COMPANY.........................................................................................................1
PROBLEM FACED BY THE ICONIC..........................................................................................1
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP STYLE........................................................................................3
LEADERSHIP STYLES.................................................................................................................3
DESIGNING AN INTERVENING PROGRAMME.................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Managing information system is an data analysis system that proved useful to take
important decisions and to coordinate and control the information in proper manner to get
optimum results to remain always in leading position (Bryson, 2017). This report is based on the
iconic that is one of well-known fashion and sports retailer that build products and services as
per the consumer choice and preferences in better manner. It is one of e commerce site or
platform to deliver one of best products and services to the ultimate consumer base in positive
manner. This report is based on the problem that faced by an organisation by framing various
strategies and tactics by finding one of optimum solution of the concerning issue. It is very much
essential to get one of best solution of the problem that faced by an organisation so that effective
results should be accomplished.
OVERVIEW OF COMPANY
The chosen organisation i.e. The Iconic which is a well known Australian Online fashion
retailer organisation that launched in year 2011 and one of largest fashion, destination and it has
stock over 1000 brands and 60,000 items in the whole world. The international brands stock's
product that are of Nike, Levi's and Calvin Klein, and etc.
PROBLEM FACED BY THE ICONIC
Respective organisation sells their products online at global level and has a strong
goodwill at competitive marketplace. The Iconic is facing issues in regards of department of
logistics. The major resources which are included in logistics department are concrete products
such as machine, building and many more (Hammer, 2015). the issue impacts negatively upon
overall business practices of firm and reduce consumer satisfaction diversely. For this different
department of organisation are responsible. This department is responsible for managing supply
of goods, their delivery and other activities of respective company. Logistics department of The
Iconic plays an important part in supply chain management so that activities and operations can
be performed in effective and better manner. The issue which is faced by The Iconic is described
as follows
 Seamless Shipping and Delivery of products: Nowadays e-commerce industry is at peak
in market and it is growing in great speed which helps to other industries to ship their
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products in other countries with less difficulties. With the help of this The Iconic achieve
shipment of large number of parcels and other products. For The Iconic it is necessary to
deliver parcels and products to customers at right time and right place. There are some
issues which reduce seamless work of respective enterprise which are such as natural
calamities, economic conditions, political issues, environmental problems etc. it will
affect their working. Main reason behind such issues is lack of trained staff and poor
business practices reduce work quality therefore it is required for The Iconic to pay their
maximum attention towards such business practices (Hitomi, 2017). Poor coordination
between marketing and other department of organisation create major issue in logistic
services therefore, it is required for The Iconic to pay their maximum attention toward
such services. Departmental working practices reduces productivity of overall firm
directly.
 Frauds while cash on delivery: Methods of payment which is adopted by the consumers
highly affect the overall profitability of the organisation while it comes to logistics in
case of electronic commerce. In the present case of The Iconic, if the customers of chosen
organisation picked a method which is COD, fraud activities highly enhanced which
leads to no payment. Along with this, attitude as well as perceptions of individuals plays
very important role while adopting e-commerce logistic facilities.
 High value as well as seasonal volume: In the present context of The Iconic,
promotional and seasonal campaigning is an internal part which is highly active during
season of festival. It has also been examined that if company fails to do proper panning in
festive season it will negatively affects the performance as well as profitability at the
competitive marketplace. In order to avoid such situations management team of the
company need to adopt creative approaches so that company will be able by deliver
products and services within given time frame (Laudon and Laudon, 2015).
 Government Rules, Policies and Regulations: It has been identified that the economic
condition of a country highly affects the overall functionality of the logistic department
of The Iconic company. In the present context, company face challenges and problems
due to high tax rates. These problems, issues and challenges highly affected the
productivity as well as performance of the company at the marketplace.
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In the present context of The Iconic company, it has been determined that company is
facing some issues in their logistics department. Therefore, some of the overcomes ae given to
the company in order to perform effectively.
 Leadership Model: It is the model which assist the leaders of organisation in order to
perform their task effectively. Some of the leadership models are as follows:
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP STYLE
It is the model which is basically focuses on the relation of followers and leaders and
perform their task according to the situation in an effective manner. According to this style,
leaders of the company adopt external environment and market decisions according to the
situations. In the present context of The Iconic company, logistic team of the company do not
have adequate and proper information about the demand of products which highly affect their
overall functionality in a negative manner. It has been identified that company provide goods and
services at the right place, at right time but due to weak transpiration facilities and lack of
information overall functionality of the company affects. Such situations can be managed and
resolved by adopting situational leadership style (Laudon and Laudon, 2016). But on the other
hand, these styles can create complexities toward the supply chain system of company which
results in delay in its execution. With reference to The Iconic company, it has been analysed that
if leaders delegates or distributes whole power among subordinates then there are probable
chances that they might misuse it. Overall, it can be said that situational leadership model
contributes in handling various kind of situations which occurs at workplace. Therefore,
Situational leadership model has been sued in order to analyse all situation and select best one
among all for respective situation.
 Y-axis shows the supportive behaviour of the leaders which is undertake the estimation
of amount of support provided to the members of the team.
 X-axis of the above graph represents the level of directive behaviour of the leaders, who
are responsible for giving directions to the team members.
LEADERSHIP STYLES
Situational leadership model comprises of four different leadership styles which may be
opted by the leaders with an intention to implement in the entity (Walsham, 2015). The same are
as follows:
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 Coaching- By using this styles, leaders considers the input, or plans of the team at a very
reduced level. In the context of The Iconic, leaders assign tasks and functions depending
on the capabilities of the staff for increasing getting the best outcomes. However, this is
the major drawback for the suppliers in fashion industry because they cannot present their
plans or share their ideas which cause lack in innovation. They are accustomed to act as
per the instructions provided by the top authority. This can reduce the motivation in them
resulting in low profit. Directing- This styles is the one in which leaders act as autocrats. The perceptions,
opinions or views are not considered by the leaders. There is no involvement of
employees as the decisions are made by the leader only. This can result in high
demotivation among the staff. With regard to The Iconic, the personnel should follow the
decisions which have been made by the top management without taking into account the
views or ideas of the subordinates. Delegating- The leaders following this style provide minimum or negligible guidance to
the team members. The workforce involved in supply management system of The Iconic
has to face difficulties because of inappropriate division of the jobs. Also, they are
imposed the decisions which results in demotivation. Furthermore, the efficiency of the
employees get reduced which ultimately increase the costs. This has significant impact
upon the staff responsible for effective supply management (McPherson and Pincus,
2017).
 Supporting- This is about the staff which supports their leaders. Also, the team members
make their individual decisions which are implemented in the working. This enhanced
the participation of the personnel which leads to increased productivity. However, there
could be negative impact as well which may create deadlock or inefficiency of the
employees affecting the supply chain management. Making decisions as per own wish
may hamper the overall supply chain management which may cause delay in delivery of
the final products.
DESIGNING AN INTERVENING PROGRAMME
Intervention refer to the act of identifying the conflict or problem existing in the
management with a view to find a solution effective enough to resolve it. This is done by making
strategies for achieving the objectives. Some of the functions of intervention are assessing the
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issues, define goals, making strategies, implementation of plan, evaluation, monitoring and
controlling of the alterations that have taken place. In relation to The Iconic, the management
should formulate intervention programmer by focusing on apparels. Hence, these methods have
been elaborated below:
Identifying problem: In this stage, the managers find out the issues which impacting the
organizational culture (Stark, 2015). In the context of The Iconic, the HR manage may find out
the need of employees for the vacant position, technical team may identify the problem with
replenishment of raw material through internet. Similarly, production manager may assess the
quality of the cloth.
Determination of goals: This is being considered as one of the crucial factor for a
business organisation like The Iconic, which mainly requires to stay much more feasible along
with clear as well. If it is talked about The Iconic, manager of this business organisation would
require to create much more effective and efficient policy in regards to pricing of different range
of products and services offered by this business firm on its online website. Away with this, in
order to maintain the overall safety in regards to individuals that consists with private data so that
no malfunctioning would take place (Peltier, 2016).
Plan's implementation : This is being considered as vital most stage, which is required
to be executed in a proper manner. This is the phase, where top management basically takes
decisions in regards to a particular subject. If it is talked about The Iconic, both manufacturing
along with the production department mainly communicate with workforce so that day-to-day
operations could take place effectively.
Process in regards to decision making: Decision making is said to be one of a crucial
phase, which majorly consists with a sure sort answer/solution to a particular issues, which is
being faced by a company in regards to its strategy. On the other hand, leader of The Iconic,
would require to keep his or her focus on satisfying all the requirements of staff members in
order to motivate them so that they could sustain within the company for a longer period of time.
Away with this, it can also be said that motivation given to a particular staff member would
directly enhance his or her capability of performing a task in a rightful manner (Penn and Pennix,
2017).
Evaluations and control: Last phase, which consist with elements like monitoring,
controlling, evaluating that mainly stays enclosed with both The iconic along with its staff
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members as well. Here, if it is talked about The Iconic, both managers and leaders would require
to do both monitoring and analysing the operations department to enhance organisational culture
and performance level of staff members.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above described report, it has been analysed that every organisation
requires a effective and appropriate management system so that business objectives can be
accomplished within the provided time frame. It has been identified that organisations are
required to consider certain steps so that lack areas can be identified so that required
improvement can be made. This helps them attaining actual goals and objective in quick manner.
These improved areas also contributes in improvising overall productivity can be enhanced and
results in fulfilment of targets. Along with this, conduction of various intervention programme
are required to be implemented in the company so that organisation can easily overcome the
issues which are being faced by them from the past time. In addition to this, discussion made in
the section of leadership model has contributed in enhancing performance as well as proficiency
of the company.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Bryson, J., 2017. Effective library and information centre management. Routledge.
Hammer, M., 2015. What is business process management?. In Handbook on business process
management 1 (pp. 3-16). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Hitomi, K., 2017. Manufacturing systems engineering: A unified approach to manufacturing
technology, production management and industrial economics. Routledge.
Laudon, K. C. and Laudon, J. P., 2015. Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital
Firm Plus MyMISLab with Pearson eText--Access Card Package. Prentice Hall Press.
Laudon, K. C. and Laudon, J. P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education
India.
McPherson, R. A. and Pincus, M. R., 2017. Henry's Clinical Diagnosis and Management by
Laboratory Methods E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Peltier, T.R., 2016. Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for
effective information security management. Auerbach Publications.
Penn, I. A. and Pennix, G. B., 2017. Records management handbook. Routledge.
Stark, J., 2015. Product lifecycle management. In Product lifecycle management (Volume 1) (pp.
1-29). Springer, Cham.
Walsham, G., 2015. Interpreting information systems in organizations.
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