Leadership & Management Approaches in a Global Context - Report

This report delves into the approaches to leadership and management within a global context, using the Bloomsbury Institute as a case study. It explores the institute's functional areas and management hierarchy, emphasizing the critical role of communication in effective leadership. The report examines the current drivers of globalization and their impact on businesses, particularly within the education sector. Furthermore, it compares and contrasts different leadership styles, with a focus on accommodating and controlling styles, providing insights into their suitability within the context of Bloomsbury Institute. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and providing recommendations for leadership and management practices in the global business environment. It is a valuable resource for students seeking to understand the complexities of leadership in a globalized world.

APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP &
MANAGEMENT IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................1
TASK – 1..............................................................................................................................................1
Functional areas of Bloomsbury Institute and its hierarchy of management......................................1
TASK – 2..............................................................................................................................................2
Importance of communication central to leadership and management..............................................2
TASK – 3..............................................................................................................................................3
Current drivers of globalisation and its impact on business...............................................................3
TASK – 4..............................................................................................................................................4
Comparing and contrasting the accommodating & controlling styles of leadership..........................4
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Because of the rising level of global mega trends, there has been increase in the
complexity, turbulence and dynamism within the business corporation. In this present
uncertain economy, firms are required to have real strategies that enables to thrive and
achieve success. Traditional approaches to leadership are proving to be insufficient by
continuous alteration in the knowledge economy (Northouse, 2017). Pertaining to this, the
current research report will throw light on approaches to leadership and management in the
global context. For this, Bloomsbury institute formerly known as the London school of
business and management is taken as a case company. The report will discuss the
management & leadership approaches and concepts, drivers of globalization and controlling
styles of leadership within the organization.
TASK – 1
Functional areas of Bloomsbury Institute and its hierarchy of management
Focusing in relation with the Bloomsbury institute, it is a for profit higher education
provider in Central London which offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses in
accountancy, management and law. It was founded in the year 2002 and is validated by the
University of Northampton. The main vision of the institute is to offer great opportunities to
students from all background to define and pursue success through education. The
management of the Bloomsbury institute carries out many functions such as planning and
setting objectives, organizing, leading, staffing as well as controlling (Our People, 2018).
Further, there are many departments within the institute which are inter-linked with each
other. The whole institution is affected if one department or function of London school of
business and management does not perform well. Some of the important functional areas are
being described in the following paragraph:
 Student services – This is being referred as the function which includes all expenses
that offers support and help to the demands as well as needs of the students. It also
encompasses many central administrative services such as counselling, social &
career development, cultural growth, student admission, career guidance, health
services and records etc.
 Human resource – Again this is one of the crucial functional area of Bloomsbury
institute as it involve recruiting, selecting and managing the human capital of the
organization. This function helps in hiring right employee at the right time and place
and also plans for the future requirement HR need within the firm (Capowski, 2014).
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 Accounts – Accounts and finance functional area of the institute deals in financial
transactions that takes place within the firm such as fees of the students, salaries and
wages of employees and teachers and other expenses related to maintenance of the
building and infrastructural development. The accounts department also maintains
payroll of records of the students effectively.
 Academics support – This functional area of Bloomsbury institute includes all the
expenses which takes place while offering primary services to the students such as
retention as well as preservation of educational materials, libraries and gallery. In
addition to this, it also includes administrative support and management along with
the budgeted support for the coursework or curriculum (McKenzie and van Winkelen,
2014).
 Operations and management – Again this functional area of the institute encompasses
all the expenses for operation, maintenance, supervision, administration, preservation
and protection of the building, repairs, utility services and furniture & equipments.
Hierarchy of management
The organizational structure of Bloomsbury institute includes five divisions and
includes the hierarchy of management or responsibility through the board of directors along
with their committees. In addition to this, the committee structure of the organization has
been designed in such a way that it makes sure effective management of all the academics
standards being set out by the institute (Organisational Structure, 2018). Other than this,
effective strategic, operational and leadership management is being ensured by each and
every division by the senior management and leadership team (SMLT). Regular meeting
every month is arranged so as to achieve desired goals and objectives. Besides this, there is a
quality assurance and enhancement committees that contributes effectively towards setting
and maintaining of academic standards. Working alongside, SMLT also offers an aid in
enhancing as well as assuring better academic quality.
TASK – 2
Importance of communication central to leadership and management
The greatest leaders and managers are considered as a motivators and encouragers
that helps in achieving the common goals to work throughout the history. This competencies
of the leaders and managers is resultant of solid communication skills. Many leaders in
history have adopted and faced many challenges in varied manners, however they have
shined at communication. Further, it is critical that managers and leaders of Bloomsbury
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institute prioritize and improve their communication skills for the purpose of giving
successful direction to their teams and drive the overall productivity of the institute (The
Importance of Communication in Leadership, 2016). Additionally, many researches have
shown that there is strong relationship between the communication and leadership &
management. For effective leadership, knowing the ways to communicate with sub-ordinates
is very crucial. Talking in regards with interdepartmental communication within Bloomsbury
institute, this system supports the workers working in all the departments to send notifications
and letters to other employees working in the firm. For example, within this institute, the
communication platform is being designed in such a manner that anyone from any
department can send information and letter to multiple, single or all workers. They also have
a software that runs online and can be accessed by anyone by browser. Furthermore, this
software can also be hosted in any cloud and web platforms (Capowski, 2014). The inter-
departmental communication system of the Bloomsbury institute also helps in sending
messages and emails alerts to all the staff members working in all the departments whether it
is accounts, academics supports, human resource, operations and management or student
services.
Underpinning the discussion further, the interdepartmental communication within the
institute is quite effective as the organization has developed and designed an effective and
suitable workflows which helps in smooth flow of communication between varied
departments. Other than this, the institute also schedules regular and short cross-functional
meetings amid the department’s heads so that they can share and on the spot address any sort
of issues taking place within teams. Finally, cross-training is also offered to the staff
members which results into effective inter-departmental communication (Bird and
Mendenhall, 2016).
TASK – 3
Current drivers of globalisation and its impact on business
Articulating in relation with the term globalization, it is nothing but inter-
connectedness of people as well as businesses all throughout the globe which ultimately
results into political, global as well as economic integration. There are many drivers of
globalization such as lower trade barriers, advancement in technology, increasing level of
communication, mobility of labour and rising level of competition. All these drivers
significantly affects the education and its related business. Globalization and education shares
a close relationship. As education holds a special position in shaping the society, it needs to
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be connected with educational institutes as well (How are universities adapting to
globalization? 2015). Pertaining to the rising level of internationalization, Bloomsbury
institute has also increased their emphasis on internationalization of the subjects to be
incorporated in the course of study in their school. They have also developed partnerships in
research and teaching with many agencies all throughout the globe (Bigelow and Peterson,
2012).
Further, with the pace of the rising level of globalization as well as its affects,
universities and management schools like Bloomsbury institute have started altering as well.
Here are some of the impacts of drivers of globalization on the business:
 Increasing number of students flow – With the increase in the level of globalization,
more and more students are willing and desiring to study in foreign nations and
pursue success. In Bloomsbury institute there has been significant increase in the
number of students in past few years. Students are of the view that globalization gives
them opportunity to interact with the students of other nations (Stiglitz, 2012).
 Growing number of courses – Because of the internationalization of the world
economy, parallel growth has been witnessed in the globalization of knowledge as
well. This has lot impacted the trend in education and its business. The institute has
also started offering many courses of study in their schools in order to meet the needs
of diverse students belonging to varied countries.
 Creating values and enhancing efficiencies – With the help of mutual support as well
as global sharing to serve the local needs and growth, there has been increase in the
efficiency and creation of values. It is helping communities to develop by giving
admissions to students across various nations and cultures.
 Increasing technological gaps – Along with some positive impact, globalization is
also negatively impacting the business of Bloomsbury institute. Because of increase in
the technological gap and digitization there has been division of advanced nations and
less developed nations (Alesina and Dollar, 2010).
 Increasing inequalities – As students from varied parts of the world are enrolling in
this institute, there has been increase in the chances of inequalities and conflicts in the
areas and cultures. In addition to this, there has been increase in the promotion of
dominant cultures as well as values of some of the advanced areas.
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TASK – 4
Comparing and contrasting the accommodating & controlling styles of leadership
As a leader and manager of the Bloomsbury institute, it is quite vital to understand
and know the type of accommodating and controlling leadership style he or she will tend
towards most and what will be the weaknesses of that style. The dominant leadership style of
the leader and manager will be mirrored in the culture of the team and thus, if it is not
addressed directly than it will be considered as a hidden virus in the cultural system. This will
essentially undermines the core values and team dynamics of the firm (Sadeghi and Rad,
2018). There are four different controlling styles of leadership such as competitive,
compromising, accommodating and collaborative. Comparison of some of the controlling
styles of leadership are as follows:
The very first is the competitive leadership style. In this, the leader takes a firm step
and they are aware about the things that want. They occupies the position of power and takes
fast decisions. But, such type of leadership makes their sub-ordinates unsatisfied and
resentful. On the other hand, in collaborative leadership style, leader or manager makes
efforts to fulfil his or her and other people’s needs. Leaders are highly assertive and
cooperative. They acknowledge each and every employee within the firm. But, this will style
cannot work effectively if decisions are taken quickly. Furthermore, throwing light in relation
with the comprising leadership style, leaders following this style makes efforts to search for
the solution that partially contends everyone. Each and every one is expected to give up
something. Nevertheless, if it is overused, it will develop a culture of latent lower level of
dissatisfaction. Finally, the last controlling style of leadership is accommodating (5
Leadership Conflict Styles (and Why You Should Know Yours! 2012). Under this style, the
leader or the manager show willingness to accomplish the goals of others at the expense of
his or her personal goals. Further, in this style of leadership the leader is not assertive like in
collaborative style rather he or she is highly cooperative. However, sometimes it might
happen that people might not give back the favours and it will not tuned out to be best
approach for the firm.
From the above discussion of different types of controlling leadership styles, it is
highly suggested that accommodative style of leadership is more suitable for Bloomsbury
institute. This is because of the fact that, it is engaged into educational business and for them
benefits of students and their growth is far more important than their personal goals and
needs. In addition to this, such types of leaders or managers also values peace more than
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winning (McCleskey, 2014). The cooperation of the leader is also very high which will make
the students more comfortable and satisfied.
CONCLUSION
Thus, to conclude it can be said that leadership and management plays a very
prominent role in the success and growth of the firm. Further, it was explored from the study
that the leader or manager of the firm should communicate with all the employees effectively
in order to influence them towards their work duties.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Alesina, A. and Dollar, D., 2010. Who gives foreign aid to whom and why? Journal of
Economic Growth, 5(1), pp.33–63.
Bigelow, B. and Peterson, B., 2012. Rethinking Globalization. Teaching for Justice in an
Unjust World. Wisconsin: Rethinking Schools.
Bird, A. and Mendenhall, M.E., 2016. From cross-cultural management to global leadership:
Evolution and adaptation. Journal of World Business, 51(1), pp.115-126.
Capowski, G., 2014. Anatomy of a leader: where are the leader of tomorrow? Management
Review, 83(3), p.10-18.
McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and
leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), p.117.
McKenzie, J. and van Winkelen, C., 2014. Understanding the Knowledgeable Organization:
Nurturing Knowledge Competence. Sydney: Thomson.
Northouse, P.G., 2017. Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. California: Sage
Publications.
Sadeghi, A. and Rad, F., 2018. The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in knowledge
management and innovation. Management Science Letters, 8(3), pp.151-160.
Stiglitz, J.E., 2012. Globalisation and its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton.
Online references
5 Leadership Conflict Styles (and Why You Should Know Yours!). 2012. [Online]. Available
through: <https://michaelwarden.com/5-leadership-conflict-styles-and-why-you-
should-know-yours/>. [Accessed on 16thAugust 2019].
How are universities adapting to globalization? 2015. [Online]. Available through:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/01/how-are-universities-adapting-to-
globalization/>. [Accessed on 16thAugust 2019].
Organisational Structure. 2018. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.bil.ac.uk/quality-
enhancement-manual/the-uk-quality-code-for-higher-education/part-a-academic-
standards/organisational-structure/>. [Accessed on 16thAugust 2019].
Our People. 2018. [Online]. Available through: https://www.bil.ac.uk/about/our-people/>.
[Accessed on 16thAugust 2019].
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The Importance of Communication in Leadership. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://businessdna.co.za/importance-communication-leadership/>. [Accessed on
16thAugust 2019].
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