Analysis of Leadership and Management in Debenhams Company Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management practices within Debenhams, a retail company. It begins by identifying key leadership and management theories, including Contingency Theory, Behavioral Theory, Autocratic Leadership Theory, and Democratic Leade...Read More

Management and
Leadership in Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Identification of key theories and perspectives of leadership and management.........................1
Analysis and application of motivational and team working principles and theories of
effective styles of management and leadership...........................................................................2
Analysis of extent to which effective management and leadership can contribute to the
organisational effectiveness within its ethics and value framework...........................................4
Demonstration of effectiveness of leadership and management behaviours on the impact of
organisation's vision and mission................................................................................................5
Evaluation of managers and leaders to facilitate the change with use of appropriate tools and
models.........................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Management and leadership plays vital role in an organisation. Management refers to the
set of principles which are related to various functions and its application in the company to
achieve its goals and objectives. Where as leadership is an act of guiding people or team to
achieve those goals of organisation (Doyle and Brady, 2018). The company selected for this
project report is Debenhams which deals in range of goods like clothing, household items and
furniture. It was founded by William Debenham in 1778 with a single store in London and now it
has grown in approximately 178 locations across those countries. The report includes key
theories and perspectives of leadership and management, analysis of motivational and team
working principles and some effective style of leadership and management. Addition to this
evaluation of managers and leaders to facilitate change with use of appropriate tools is also
stated.
MAIN BODY
Identification of key theories and perspectives of leadership and management.
Leadership is an important part in management as it helps in maximization of efficiency
and achieve the goals of organisation on time. A leader is a guide who instructs the subordinates
the ways which can increase their performance and their work can be more effective and
efficient. The management and leadership visual aspects change according to range of contexts
and diverse environments within the organisation (Harris and DeFlaminis, 2016). The following
are some theories of management which can be used by managers of company for diverse
environments:
Contingency Theory- This theory supposes that a leader of company has effectiveness
which is contingent on the leadership style which suits particular situation of organisation. To
maximize the probability of being productive manager, this theory posits the managers to
examine each situation and make decisions of their management styles which would be effective
or not. In most of the cases, manager is required to be self-aware, have objectives and must have
adaptable nature. This theory says that no matter how successful manager is, there can be always
particular situation which can challenge there performance.
Behavioural Theory- This theory is big leap from Trait theory as it was basically
developed for conducting behaviour focused studies. The theory says that management
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capabilities can be learned rather than being constitutional. It is based on the principle that
behaviour of manager can be conditioned in a manner that one can specifically respond to
specific stimuli. It focuses on the behaviour of manger and what managers do, how they act in
company. The theory considers the observable actions and reactions of managers and followers
in any situation (Kempster and Gregory, 2017). It can be classified as the focus of study of
specific behaviours of a manager.
Apart from these management theories, the following are some leadership theories which can be
used by leaders of company for diverse environments:
Autocratic Leadership Theory- It can be characterized by individual control over all
decisions and inputs of team members. The leaders typically make choices which are based on
their own ideas and judgements which are rarely accepted advised from its followers. The
leaders are involved with absolute, authorised control over team members within such style. The
use of autocratic behaviour depends upon the factors such as the situation or type of task the
team is working on or the characteristics of team members.
Democratic Leadership Theory- The leaders adopt this theory when they want more
participation of members of team in decision making process. Leaders need to understand the
balancing act of allowing every member of team to participate in tasks and activities of company
and ensure that objectives are achieved properly. With this the leaders involve appraisal of both
subordinates and leaders with the strong feedback structures which are available.
Analysis and application of motivational and team working principles and theories of effective
styles of management and leadership.
Every organisation focuses on providing a healthy environment to the team members and
managers to work in the company and achieve the goals. For this managers and leaders of an
enterprise apply some theories and principles which can motivate the employees within
organisation and make them work effectively (Kremer, Villamor and Aguinis, 2019). The
following are some theories which are used by managers of Debenhams.
Vroom's expectancy motivation theory- This theory has a assumption that human
behaviour may result conscious choices amongst the alternatives the purpose to maximize
pleasure and minimize the pain. The theory separates the efforts which may arise due to
motivation, performance and outcomes of employees. Vroom observed that employees
performance is based on individual factors like the personality, skills, knowledge, experience and
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abilities of person. For this expectancy, instrumentality and valence are the variables which are
accountable for motivation (Lahtero,Lång and Alava, 2017). Different set of goals which can
motivate individuals can be there positive relation between efforts and performance, favourable
performance may result in desirable reward and so on.
Apart from motivating individuals, implementation of team working principles are also
necessary. The following are some principles which are formulated in Debenhams for
coordination within the team work:
 Establishment of clear purpose and shared meanings- With this principle managers
ensure that all employees must know that they all are collectively striving to achieve
organisational goals. In addition to this they must know the collective result which is
significantly more than any one of them.
 Clear definitions and diverse roles- The roles and working should be clear for each
individual which brings enough help to employees to connect and trust each other but not
in such a manner that the results have duplication.
 Clear communication- The managers needs to support the individual by which
ambiguity of working environment can be increased with the increase in communication
amongst the members of team and whole working place (Meiring, 2017). When the
individuals interact with each other they can understand the though process and work
with more coordination.
Administrative Theory- This theory is used for effective management and leadership in
Debenhams. The theory states the five functions of management which were stated by Henri
Fayol in practical manner. He developed this theory when he examined an company with the
perspective of managers and different situations they might encounter in working environment.
According to this theory the main functions of leaders and managers are discussed as follows
which outlines the leaders to organise and interact with its team:
 Planning- It is concerned with the determination of objectives which company has to
achieve and the actions which would be taken to achieve them. This function is
performed at every level because it can be either be done for entire company or any of the
department.
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 Organising- It involves the togetherness of manpower and material resources which
would achieve the objectives laid down by enterprise. This function helps companies to
increase the efficiency of employees.
 Staffing- Every organisation is known with the quality of work which is done by people
especially the managers of company (Pihlainen, Kivinen and Lammintakanen, 2019).
That is why this function is concerned about the people in company with aspect of
management.
 Directing- It is the art and process of getting the work done in the organisation. When the
other functions are prepared for doing the work, this function actually starts doing the
work.
 Controlling- This function has concern of watching and observing all the activities have
been done or are being performed with the conformity of plans. Control is effective and
fruitful when is it based on a plan as it measures the actual performance with ascertain
deviations.
With this theory it is suggested that company should not be rigid with these principles but the
manger should determine how they would use them to manage effectiveness and efficiency of
work.
Analysis of extent to which effective management and leadership can contribute to the
organisational effectiveness within its ethics and value framework.
Organisational effectiveness can be refereed as the efficiency which makes company
meet its objectives. It is important as it increases the engagement of employees and their
performance in the working of company. The efficiency in the work may also decrease the cost
for companies (Raelin, 2017). The areas which are causing waste that can be outdated processes,
technology or ineffective workflows and many more can be become saving for company. The
companies with high effectiveness possess strengths across the leadership, decision making,
people, work processes and culture. From all this leadership and the management are the
essential parts with which the organisation can function properly.
For organisation effectiveness, managers of Debenhams do the planning of their
strategies in such a manner that the resources can be utilized in effective manner. After having a
plan, mangers implement such plans and controls it to have full productivity. For implementation
of such plans in effective way the leaders of company train the employees by which the goals of
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both organisation and individual can meet. The leaders also motivate the employees and
communicate with employees on timely bases. With leadership employee can have proper
direction, encouragement and inspiration which ultimately motivates the team to achieve
organisational success (Raelin, 2020). Where as management is the primary role of organisation,
in which the coordination of efforts between people and allocation of resources maximize
efficiency to achieve predetermined goals.
Demonstration of effectiveness of leadership and management behaviours on the impact of
organisation's vision and mission.
The behaviour of leaders and manager directly impact over the vision and mission of
Debenhams. The managers of company formulate the strategies for company which would make
the work procedure more clear to achieve the mission and vision. The managers tend to have all
information which can make the process more clear and easy by which the members of team can
effectively focus on mission and vision of company. Apart from managers the behaviour of
leaders also impact the company. The leaders are the one who direct the employees to work on
the path which can lead in achievement of company's mission and vision.
Evaluation of managers and leaders to facilitate the change with use of appropriate tools and
models.
The model which can be used by managers and leaders of Debenhams to facilitate the
change is Lewin's Change Management Model. It is a simple and easy to understand tool to
manage the change in company. Change is the thing which runs in all type of businesses
regardless to the size, industry and age (Wardman, Ford and Manogue, 2017). The environment
around the companies change in fast manner and enterprises has to adopt those changes quickly.
This model states three steps which are as follows:
 Unfreeze- Before implementation of change the initial step is to unfreeze. This stage
creates awareness of how the status quo or what is the current level of acceptability, or
what all activities hinder the organisation in some ways.
 Change- When the people in organisation are unfrozen they now begin to move. This
step can also be referred as transitioning or moving which can be marked as
implementation of the change.
 Refreeze- This is last stage which symbolizes the act of reinforcing, stabilizing and
solidifying of new state which has been created after change. This is most important step
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as it helps in ensuring people do not to go back to the old ways but adopt the change as
early as they can.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it can be conclude that in an organisation the leadership
and management are the vital roles which help in effective achievement of company's goal. The
theories of management like Contingency Theory and Behavioural Theory and the theories of
leadership which are Autocratic Leadership Theory and Democratic Leadership Theory can be
implemented depending upon the situations. While Vroom's expectancy motivation theory is
used to motivate the individuals of company and Administrative Theory is used for the proper
functioning in the company. Apart from all these applications the effectiveness of leaders and
managers impact on the vision and mission of company.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Doyle, T. and Brady, M., 2018. Reframing the university as an emergent organisation:
implications for strategic management and leadership in higher education. Journal of
Higher Education Policy and Management. 40(4). pp.305-320.
Harris, A. and DeFlaminis, J., 2016. Distributed leadership in practice: Evidence,
misconceptions and possibilities. Management in Education. 30(4). pp.141-146.
Kempster, S. and Gregory, S. H., 2017. ‘Should I stay or should I go?’Exploring leadership-as-
practice in the middle management role. Leadership. 13(4). pp.496-515.
Kremer, H., Villamor, I. and Aguinis, H., 2019. Innovation leadership: Best-practice
recommendations for promoting employee creativity, voice, and knowledge sharing.
Business Horizons. 62(1). pp.65-74.
Lahtero, T. J., Lång, N. and Alava, J., 2017. Distributed leadership in practice in Finnish
schools. School Leadership & Management. 37(3). pp.217-233.
Meiring, A., 2017. Time management: how to improve outcomes through management inputs:
leadership/management/professional practice. Professional Nursing Today. 21(3). pp.2-
3.
Pihlainen, V., Kivinen, T. and Lammintakanen, J., 2019. Experts’ perceptions of management
and leadership competence in Finnish hospitals in 2030. Leadership in Health Services.
Raelin, J. A., 2017. Leadership-as-practice: Theory and application—An editor’s reflection.
Leadership. 13(2). pp.215-221.
Raelin, J. A., 2020. Toward a methodology for studying leadership-as-practice. Leadership.
16(4). pp.480-508.
Wardman, M. J., Ford, J. and Manogue, M., 2017. Undergraduate leadership education for
dentistry: preparing for practice. European Journal of Dental Education. 21(4). pp.e109-
e113.
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