Leadership and Management Analysis: Arcadia Group Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of Arcadia Group, a British multinational retail enterprise. It explores the company's history, vision, leadership style, management practices, and organizational culture. The report examines the influence of culture and management styles on business functions and strategies, highlighting the adoption of transformational leadership and task culture. It delves into the application of administrative management theory, including planning, organizing, directing, controlling, and coordinating. Furthermore, the report offers recommendations for improvements in leadership style, management practices, and strategies, emphasizing the importance of employee engagement and motivation. The conclusion summarizes the significance of effective leadership and management in achieving long-term business goals and enhancing employee productivity, emphasizing the need to consider employee opinions in decision-making processes to foster engagement and success. This report is contributed by a student to be published on the website Desklib, a platform which provides all the necessary AI based study tools for students.

Individual report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
History and summary of organisation and rationale for choice...................................................1
Vision, mission, leadership style, management practices and organisational structure..............1
Culture and management styles influencing business functions and strategies...........................4
Recommendation to make improvements in leadership style, management practices and
strategies......................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Leadership and management are two different elements that are required to be focused by
business owners in order to make sure that all the operational will be conducted in appropriate
manner or not. Both of them help to set long term vision and then formulate plan to reach to the
same (Boyatzis, 2014). The organisation which is selected for this report is Arcadia Group which
is British multinational retail sector enterprise, mainly based in London, United Kingdom. This
report covers various topics such as overview of organisation, vision, leadership style,
management practices and organisational culture. Apart from this, the way in which culture and
management style influence business functions are strategies and recommendation for
improvement in leadership, management and strategies is also provided in this assignment.
MAIN BODY
History and summary of organisation and rationale for choice
Arcadia Group is one of the largest retain sector organisation which is mainly established
in London, UK. It was founded by Philip Nigel Ross Green in year 1903. CEO of the company is
Ian Granbiner and currently more than 22000 employees are working within the enterprise.
There are various subsidiaries of the entity which are Topshop, Topman, Evans, Miss Selfridge,
Dorothy Perkins, Wallis etc. Chairman of the company is Sir Philip Green and finance director is
Paul Budge. It deals in clothing, accessories and shoes items. Arcadia Group is owned by Taveta
Investments.
Rationale for selecting this organisation for the purpose of analysis is that it is one of the
largest company in retail sector of United Kingdom so it will be easy to gather detailed
information of about it. By conducting detailed assessment of Arcadia Group, can enhance
knowledge regarding leadership, management practices and different strategies that are used by
business entities to execute operational activities appropriately (Overview of Arcadia Group,
2019).
Vision, mission, leadership style, management practices and organisational structure
All the business entities focus on some of the essential elements in order to make sure
that all of them will help to execute all the operations appropriately or not. These are leadership
styles, vision, management practices and culture of the organisation. Managers and leaders in
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Arcadia Group also take all of them in to consideration for the purpose of achieving long term
business goals. Detailed analysis of all them for the company is as follows:
Vision: Long term vision of Arcadia Group is to be the market leader in retail sector by
satisfying customers with the help of good quality of its products.
Leadership style: In order to reach vision of the company it is very important for leaders
to adopt appropriate leadership style which can help them to meet expectations of employees and
motivate them to work hard. With the help of an effective leadership leaders can guide all the
staff members to achieve personal as well as organisational goals. There are various styles of it
and for top executives it is vital to select one which suits to business (Bush, Bell and
Middlewood, 2019).
One of them is autocratic in which leaders give command to their subordinates and all the
staff members are required to work accordingly. It could be adopted by leaders in Arcadia Group
to assure that all the tasks accomplished successfully. Another style is transformational in which
leaders allow employees to take part in decision making process so that effective strategies or
betterment of the company can be formulated. Top executives in Arcadia Group follow
transformational leadership as it help them to motivate all the subordinates to work hard. With
the help of it they feel that they are considered as important part of company and put high efforts
to contribute in attainment of business goals.
The leadership theory which suits to the leadership style of Arcadia Group is
transformational leadership theory in which leaders play role of motivator, inspirer and
supervisor. With the help of it employees of the organisation get motivated to work effectively
and their engagement level is also get increased in operational activities. It helps top executives
to get different solutions for the problems that are faced by company due to changes in market
situations. This theory guide leaders of Arcadia Group to analyse problems that are faced by
employees and then find effective solutions for all those issues so that a positive working
environment can be established for them and productivity can be enhanced (Chen and Chen,
2014).
Management practices: Different types of innovative ways that are utilised by managers
of the organisations to are known as management practices. With the help of all of them business
is executed in appropriate manner. These are conducting training programs for staff members,
introducing new technique for employees, conducting development programs to empower
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workforce etc. In Arcadia Group all these practices are taken in to consideration by top level
managers as it helps them to manage all the business activities in appropriate manner. Main
objective of managers behind focusing on such practices is to reach to the long term business
vision which can result in attainment of success and growth. Management practices also helps to
enhance productivity of employees by providing them appropriate training which is required by
them to execute business operations appropriately (Donate and de Pablo, 2015).
Administrative management theory is focused by managers in Arcadia Group in order to
make sure that all of them are conducted in a proper manner. It is a combination of five different
functions of managers which are required for them to perform effectively. These are planning,
organising, directing, controlling and coordinating. All these elements of this theory are as
follows:
 Planning: According to this element of administrative management theory it is very
important for managers of Arcadia Group observe market situations and then form plans
for betterment of the organisation.
 Organising: It is second component of administrative theory of management which
states that managers are responsible to organise resources which are required to
accomplish business goals and execute pre formulated plans.
 Directing: It is the stage in which managers of Arcadia Group have to provide guidance
to all the staff members to work effectively so that predetermined objectives could be
attained.
 Controlling: This factor of administrative theory demonstrate that managers in Arcadia
Group have to monitor all the activities that are performed by employees and then take
appropriate action if anything negative is analysed by them. It helps to make sure that
business procedures are conducted effectively or not.
 Coordinating: It is last element of administrative theory which guides managers of
Arcadia Group to coordinate with all the executives and employees so that possibility of
the issues such as conflicts, that may take place in future can be reduced (Dubey,
Gunasekaran and Ali, 2015).
All the above described elements of administrative theory are focused by managers of
Arcadia Group in order to make sure that all the business activities are executed in appropriate
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manner. With the help of them organisational vision is also achieved by the company is achieved
because it contributes in enhancement of productivity of employees.
Organisational culture: It is the set of values, beliefs and attitude of superiors against
subordinates. Success or failure of the company depends upon it as it helps to enhance
productivity of staff members if they are treated appropriately by leaders. In Arcadia Group, task
culture is followed by managers and leaders in order to find appropriate solutions for all the
business problems. In order to analyse it in detail a theory could be implemented which is
Handy's model of organisational culture. Different elements of it are as follows:
 Role culture: In this type of culture different types of roles are provided by the top level
executives to employees in order to attain organisational goals. It helps to aware each and
every staff member to be aware of their responsibilities.
 Power culture: When top executives keep all the power in their hand and give command
to subordinates then it is known as power culture. They take all the decision by
themselves and do not consider point of view of subordinates.
 Task culture: In such type of culture different tasks are provided to the employees in
order to achieve a common goal. It helps to attain all the business goals.
 Person culture: In this culture individuals are considered as most important part of
organisation. It helps to motivate employees and increase their work quality.
From all the above described cultures task culture is followed in Arcadia Group in order
to accomplish business goals by analysing solutions for business problems (Handy's cultural
model, 2019).
Culture and management styles influencing business functions and strategies
Task culture and transformation style of management influences functions and strategies
of Arcadia Group in positive manner. With the help of both of them vision of the company is
being achieved by managers and leaders. For example, if Arcadia Group is planning to expand
its business in more locations then its culture will influence its success. In order to execute this
plan it will be very important for the top level managers to allot different tasks to staff members
so that they can provide different options which will be beneficial for future (Goetsch and Davis,
2014). Transformational style of management also influence the strategies of the organisation
because all of them will be formed according to opinion of staff members. In this style of
management workforce is asked to take part in decision making process as they have practical
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experience of interacting with customers so they can provide right suggestions to reach to long
term objectives.
There are some negative influences of organisational culture and management style of
strategies and functions of organisation because all the employees provide different ideas and it
is not possible to work on all the ideas. In this situation some of the staff members may get
demotivated which will affect their functionality, business and strategies as it will also affect
their engagement level in tasks (Jones and George, 2014).
Recommendation to make improvements in leadership style, management practices and
strategies
Following are the recommendations for the improvement in leadership style,
management practices and strategies:
 As transformation leadership style is followed by leaders in Arcadia Group which can
result in decreased moral of employees if their opinion is not considered then the
organisation is recommended to focus on such factors which can deal with this issues.
These are monetary or non monetary benefits.
 Sometimes transformational leadership style results in reduced engagement of staff
members because they think that managers will not take any strict action against them if
they do not work effectively. In order to deal with this problem it has been recommended
to leaders of Arcadia Group to behave professionally within the organisation.
 While formulating decisions all the employees are asked to provide suggestions so while
providing rewards or at the time of praising all of them should be praised. Offering
rewards to some of them can result in staff turnover.
 In order to increase engagement level and productivity of employees it has been
recommended to Arcadia Group to introduce new schemes for staff members so that they
get motivated to work hard (Renz, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that it is very important for leaders
and managers to pay attention at appropriate management and leadership as it helps to execute
business operations appropriately. In order to motivate staff members it is very important to
consider their opinion while formulating decision. It can helps to increase their engagement level
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and productivity. Management practices, organisational culture, leadership style, vision etc. are
required to be focused by top level executives in order to achieve long term business goals.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Boyatzis, R. E., 2014. Possible contributions to leadership and management development from
neuroscience.
Bush, T., Bell, L. and Middlewood, D. eds., 2019. Principles of Educational Leadership &
Management. SAGE Publications Limited.
Chen, C. F. and Chen, S. C., 2014. Measuring the effects of Safety Management System
practices, morality leadership and self-efficacy on pilots’ safety behaviors: Safety
motivation as a mediator. Safety science. 62. pp.376-385.
Donate, M. J. and de Pablo, J. D. S., 2015. The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in
knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research. 68(2).
pp.360-370.
Dubey, R., Gunasekaran, A. and Ali, S. S., 2015. Exploring the relationship between leadership,
operational practices, institutional pressures and environmental performance: A
framework for green supply chain. International Journal of Production Economics. 160.
pp.120-132.
Goetsch, D. L. and Davis, S. B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Jones, G. R. and George, J. M., 2014. Essentials of contemporary management. McGraw-Hill
Education.
Renz, D., 2016. The Future of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. The Jossey-Bass
Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management, New Jersey: Jossey-Bass. pp.734-
745.
Online
Handy's cultural model. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.businessballs.com/organisational-culture/charles-handy-model/>
Overview of Arcadia Group. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/>
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