LDR/300: Innovative Leadership & Store Management at Woolworths

This report analyzes the role of active leadership in effective store management, focusing on Richard Clarke, a store manager at Woolworths in Sydney. It examines Clarke's leadership style through the lens of the Five-Factor personality model, highlighting his openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and low neuroticism. The report details an incident where Clarke addressed staff concerns regarding the appointment of new employees by using statistical insights to demonstrate the need for increased workforce strength. The key takeaway is that effective leadership requires adapting skills to specific situations rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach. The analysis includes citations from various sources to support the arguments presented.

Running head: INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP
Innovative Leadership
NAME OF STUDENT:
NAME OF COLLEGE:
AUTHORS NOTE:
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INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP
The role of Active Leadership in effective store Management
The ever increasing growth and popularity
of Woolworths can be attributed to the
efforts put forward by human resources of
the company, as they help in turning
developed strategies into action.
Woolworth’s supermarket is an Australian
supermarket store chain owned by
Woolworth’s group, which accounts for a
major portion of the entire revenue
generated by the group. The Woolworths
supermarket, along with Coles accounts for
about 80% of Australian market. The middle
management of Woolworths is considered as
one of the most effective management level
of the company as they act as bridge
between higher management and lower
management and therefore, employees
belonging to middle management of
Woolworths supermarket has to demonstrate
high quality leadership skills for achieving
goals and objectives of the company.
Richard Clarke, who is currently the store
manager of one of the Woolworths
supermarket located in Sydney shares his
valuable experiences regarding the necessity
of active leadership skills in managing day
to day operations of the store and to achieve
the objectives of the company. Mr Clarke
has been working in Woolworth’s
supermarket for more than a decade and he
joined as team leader after having master
degree in business management. Mr Clarke
slowly rose above his ranks due to his
constant performances and two years back
he was promoted to the position of store
manager in one of the stores of Woolworth’s
operating in Sydney. As a store manager, an
individual needs to take complete
responsibility of the day to day operations of
the store in order to achieve goals and
objectives and Mr Clarke is efficient in
taking full control of operations in store
which can be evident from not only the
business performance of the store but also
from rate of customer satisfaction and rate of
employee satisfaction in the store. Upon
analysis of the leadership style of Mr Clarke
based on five factor personality model it can
be found out that there is high degree of
openness in leadership style of Mr Clarke
which can be evident from his ability to
make informed and insightful decision. The
high degree of openness can also be
observed from tendency of individual to take
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INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP
creative decisions. It can be also observed
that Mr Clarke remains ever curious in
gathering information regarding various
minute details in order to take correct
decisions which other individuals tend to
perceive as unnecessary. Upon analysis of
leadership style of Mr Clarke based on five
factor personality models it can be found out
that there is high degree of
conscientiousness in his leadership style
which is evident from his ability of aiming
for achievement through actions and
strategies which are well panned rather than
being spontaneous in nature. It can also be
observed that Mr Clarke always act dutifully
in all circumstances and always displays
self-discipline in all the activities he carries
out which serves as an example for all staffs
of the store. It can also be observed that Mr
Clarke tends to lead from the front in all the
activities he performs so that it motivates
other staffs of the store. Upon analysis of the
leadership style of Mr Clarke based on the
five factor personality model it can be found
out that there is high degree of extraversion
in his leadership style which can be evident
from high level of energy which is displayed
by Mr. Clarke in all the activities he
performs which helps in encouraging and
motivating other staffs of the store. It is also
evident that Mr. Clarke possesses positive
emotions in all the activities he performs so
that it does not create negative emotion on
other staffs. It is even observed that Mr
Clarke displays high tendency to be sociable
in nature which helps him in identifying
concerns among all levels of staffs and
addressing it accordingly. Upon analysis of
leadership style of Mr Clarke it can be found
out that there is high degree of agreeableness
in his leadership style which can be evident
from the fact that Mr Clarke always trusts
his subordinates and staffs in all the
activities they do rather than being
suspicious in the activities they perform. It is
also evident that Mr Clarke is cooperative
and trustworthy in nature which can be
evident from the fact that he always seeks
insights and views from all his staffs while
taking any decision related to operations of
the store. Further, upon analysis of
leadership style of Mr Clarke it can be found
out that there is very low degree of
neuroticism in his leadership which can be
evident from the fact that he does not
display unpleasant emotions such as anger,
anxiety, depression and vulnerability while
performing day to day operations in the store
as it tends to create negative impact on
staffs. From analysis of leadership style of
Mr Clarke it can be understood that
leadership roles which are displayed by Mr
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INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP
Clarke is that of a leader as he believes in
guiding his followers by setting an example
himself, by involving them in decision
making process and by fully trusting in their
capabilities and actions.
One such incident which Mr Clarke recalls
in which he had to solve a difficult problem
as things did not go as planned is when he
has taken responsibility as a store manager
recently and he had to gain consensus from
all team leaders regarding appointing of new
staffs in the stores. The idea proposed by Mr
Clarke received negative reaction from
existing staffs as they perceived that their
job was in stake and they actively protested
views of Mr Clarke. In order to control the
situation Mr Clarke offered assurance to
existing staffs but that too did not work and
therefore Mr Clarke provided a statistical
insights of requirements and future
objectives of the company which
demonstrated need to increase current
workforce strength of the store and based on
these figure and statistics he was able to
address the concerns of existing staffs.
Mr Clarke recalls the lesson he learnt from
being able to solve numerous problem was
that there is no ideal leadership skill or
quality which is effective in all situations,
rather an individual needs to display and
modify his leadership skills and qualities
depending on the requirement of situation.
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INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP
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