Leadership, Management, and Strategies in the Context of Sainsbury's

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Sainsbury's leadership and management practices. It begins with an introduction to the company, including its history and overview, followed by an examination of its vision, leadership style, and various strategies. The report then delves into the implementation of these practices, providing examples of how Sainsbury's applies its vision and leadership style. It also explores the management practices employed by the company, including its approach to human relations and employee motivation. Furthermore, the report offers suggestions for improving the use of policies, addressing the shortcomings of the democratic leadership style and the need for clarity in pay systems. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the significance of leadership, vision, and management practices in achieving organizational goals. The report also highlights the importance of effective HR policies and employee satisfaction.

context of business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. History and summary of chosen organisation ...................................................................1
2. vision, leadership style, various strategies and management practice ...............................2
3. implementation of vision, leadership style, various strategies and management practice with
example...................................................................................................................................3
4. suggestions to improve the use of policies.........................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is a practice that involves leading people in a certain direction. In the business
context this tool is used to motivate employees working in the organisation. The major purpose
of adopting this is to persuade people to work hard towards the achievement of targets which has
been set by the business. Management practice on the hand is associated with the methods and
policies developed by the company to ensure the effectiveness in the working of company.
Sainsbury firm has been selected in the report, it was established in the year 1869 by John James
sainsbury and situated in London UK. This is known as the third largest supermarket chain
offering wide range of products and services such as meat fish, dairy items, pizza, bakery etc.
The topics which has been covered in the following report are brief history of the chosen
organisation it's vision, leadership style, management practices and an analysis on how company
implement these policies and what can be done for their further improvement (Axtle-Ortiz,
2013).
MAIN BODY
1. History and summary of chosen organisation
Sainsbury is known as third largest chain of supermarket, it was established in 1869 by
John James sainsbury and Mary Ann. They begin their journey by selling fresh foods and
groceries items now the company has grown by leaps and bounds and has included range of
products in different categories like dairy products, groceries, and clothing etc. The main aim of
the organisation was to provide quality goods services at an affordable prices. Various changes
have also been the working of the organisation over years. This company is selected for the
research because the data which has been studied in the report was easily found of the selected
organisation (Bai, White and Sundaram, 2013). Different finding regarding how the management
of the firm applies policies for the systematic functioning is important to be analysed. There are
over 100 stores running various parts of the counties and it has also entered in the fuel, cafe and
online business for the further expansion. Though it also had to face downfall as companies like
TESCO and Asda has overtook the top position in the retailing business. Therefore to regain it's
position back firm has to take appropriate actions.
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2. vision, leadership style, various strategies and management practice
 Vision- This refers to the imagination or dreams about future position and making plans
to fulfil them. In the business context this word is often used in order to expand the
business and achieving predetermined goals. John James and Mary Ann had the vision to
make Sainsbury the world's largest retailer when they entered into the line of business.
Following this dream passionately, the company became successful.
 leadership style- This is the type of practice adopted by the individuals to motivate or
lead people in particular direction. Within the organisational context leaders are obligated
to perform their duty about handling the grievances of employees and boosting their
morale by pushing them to work effectively so that goals of organisation can be achieved
(Bell, Bryman and Harley, 2018). Types of leadership style are such as autocratic,
democratic participative etc. Democratic style is adopted by the Sainsbury, this style is
the opposite of autocratic as it promotes discussions and allow employees to give their
opinions on various matters, though the leader still hold power to make final decision but
ensures that employees contribute equally by providing their feedback and suggestions
during meeting.
The leadership style is based on the participative theory that the Sainsbury has adopted
According to this, taking into account other's views and suggestions is beneficial for the
organisation, the Sainsbury has able to control the employee turnover by following this theory it
ensures commitment and loyalty from the workers. Due to this the employees feel like they are
part of organisation and develops sense of belonging and initiatives which is good for the long
term stability of business. Contributions from various people generates fresh ideas and
appropriate decisions are taken.
 Management practice- These are the systems or procedure adopted by the organisation in
order to enhance the productivity of business operations as well as employees. There are
different types of management practices that are created as per the belief and values that
the organisation wants to attach themselves with. Sainsbury wants to establish itself as
the most trusted retailer for this the company is promoting diversity and creativity in the
workforce, through effective HR policies.
Theory of management practice:
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Management practice of Sainsbury is based on the Human relation theories. According to
this it is essential for the management to maintain balance in the organisation for achieving
goals. This is concerned with evaluating the needs of employees and their expectations.
Employees were no longer considered as machines with the introduction of laws and policies.
These were made in order to improve their situations, there are certain benefits associated with
this are that the organisation is able to increase the quality of their business. If the the workers
are recognised for effectively performing their job this helps in increasing their motivation and
they perform work with more commitment. One of it's principal states that social relationship are
significant part of organisational behaviour therefore managers has to provide healthy and
friendly environment and also work to satisfy them by addressing their grievances, suggestions
and complaints (Bernroider and Schmöllerl, 2013). Profitability and success of Sainsbury is
because they understood the importance of Human resource and took actions to determine the
potential of employees and linking their personal goals with organisational objectives.
3. implementation of vision, leadership style, various strategies and management practice with
example
Vision of the Sainsbury is to completely serve the needs of customers this is going to be
achieved by the organisation and helps in regaining the position of world's largest retailer. The
leaders of the company gives proper direction to the employees of Research and development
department engaged themselves with determining the needs of customers. Taste and preferences
of customers are always changing it ensures that management keep itself updated with every
possible happening in the environment.
Strategies are the techniques used by the companies to handle business complexities and
future uncertainties. It helps in preparing the management from unforeseen problems, Sainsbury
has made changes with respect to the technological advancements and considered as the first
retailers that used computerised system to deliver goods due to this company made lot of profits.
Another strategy was of product expansion, wide variety of goods are being manufactured to
cater the demands of large customer base (Rebuge and Ferreira, 2012). Under their strategic plan
fair prices of products are and also by providing services through online channels it has able
expand the sales. Corporate so
Implementation of leadership style in the Sainsbury:
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 Keep record of all the ideas- As per this the managers has to keep track of all the ideas or
suggestions that has been suggested in the meeting. This allow systematic arrangement of
all the prospective alternative that can be beneficial for the organisation.
 Decision making process- Under this process decisions are taken that solely depends on
the requirement of situations. This is very crucial stage therefore managers has to be extra
careful while taking them also representatives are selected that clearly defines the
situations they helps in providing a different perceptive (Crane and Matten, 2016).
 Involve the right people- It is very essential as single wrong opinion can badly affect the
position of business. Identifying those people in the organisation that gives unbiased
opinion is one of the aspect of this stage.
These practices were adopted by the managers of Sainsbury when they faced situation of
conflicts with the shop owners. Under their democratic style managers ensured participation
from all it's members. There company organised various workshops that helps in bringing out the
point of view from all the members through effective discussions. Feedback are taken before
taking the final call, this has become possible due to the collaboration and coordination that the
management has maintained in it's working. Sainsbury recognized that there were issues like
employees failed to understand their roles and responsibilities which they solved by establishing
common language in the workforce (Piercy, 2013).
Application of this style can understood from an example like the the issues that company
was facing regarding pay system, Complaints were raised by the union leaders to increase their
salaries after the intervention of MP's and representatives management understood the depth of
the problem it introduced changes in the contract (Implementation of leadership style in
Sainsbury, 2018). Lots of discussion were made with the union leaders which resulted increasing
the pay of shop owners. The decision was taken after consulting with many employees, this
shows that company take suggestions from their members before taking last decisions.
Implementation of Management practice in Sainsbury:
Sainsbury is a well known retailer in the market therefore company has to measures to
maintain the positive image in the market. The human relation policy has been achieved by the
organisation by following certain procedure. For example the first and foremost step that leaders
took was by managing diverse group of employees appropriate training was given to them under
company's training and development programme (Leitch, Hazlett and Pittaway, 2012). During
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the induction programme itself they ensures that employees become aware of the rules,
responsibilities and the structure of organisation. This helps in building good re lationship and
covering the gaps between the employees and management. Leaders are groomed and given clear
instructions on how to manage the subordinates. Effective relationship allows workers to freely
discuss their problems with their superiors and helps managers to successfully managed to
understand the expectations and demands of employees (Fielt, 2014). In the company strategies
are developed to reward workers after analysing their expectations. Some of the individual
preferred financial incentives like bonus, hike in salaries etc while for some employees their
wants can be associated with leaves, relaxation in working hours. They are able to motivate the
employees and increased their job satisfaction.
4. suggestions to improve the use of policies.
 Democratic style has certain shortcomings as the chosen organisation uses democratic
style this creates indiscipline in the environment. Workers give unnecessary opinions and
suggestions which are of no use. Taking feedbacks from too many people cause delay in
decision making therefore it is recommended to improve the leadership style by creating
rules and regulations within which employees views will be considered.
 Under it's human relation policy it is recommended to Sainsbury to enhance the policies
and make clarity regarding the pay system in order to avoid conflicts from workers. Strict
policies should be made avoid any sort of harassment and discrimination at workplace.
 Providing meaningful feedback- Employees can be motivated only if they are given
constructive suggestions. An effective communication channel should be established to
address problems related to workers (Kalafatis, Riley and Singh, 2014).
 Organisation should make further improvements in the IT department for the further
improvement in the quality of goods and services. As business gets affected due to
involvement of various factors like legal, social, technological and economical therefore
future uncertainties should be dealt in an appropriate manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that leadership is significant aspect of
management it helps in guiding the employees towards the achievement of organisation goals.
Success of the company relies on three main factors Vision, leadership and management
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practice. Pros and cons of different leadership styles such as autocratic, democratic strategic etc.
has also been discussed afterwards analysing the demands of workers is essential to increase
their productivity therefore organisation has to implement effective HR policies for enhancing
the job satisfaction in the workforce.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Axtle-Ortiz, M. A., 2013. Perceiving the value of intangible assets in context. Journal of
Business Research. 66(3). pp.417-424.
Bai, X., White, D. and Sundaram, D., 2013, November. Context adaptive visualization for
effective business intelligence. In 2013 15th IEEE International Conference on
Communication Technology (pp. 786-790). IEEE.
Bell, E., Bryman, A. and Harley, B., 2018. Business research methods. Oxford university press.
Bernroider, E. W. and Schmöllerl, P., 2013. A technological, organisational, and environmental
analysis of decision making methodologies and satisfaction in the context of IT induced
business transformations. European Journal of Operational Research. 224(1). pp.141-
153.
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Fielt, E., 2014. Conceptualising business models: Definitions, frameworks and
classifications. Journal of Business Models. 1(1). pp.85-105.
Kalafatis, S. P., Riley, D. and Singh, J., 2014. Context effects in the evaluation of business-to-
business brand alliances. Industrial Marketing Management. 43(2). pp.322-334.
Leitch, C., Hazlett, S. A. and Pittaway, L., 2012. Entrepreneurship education and
context. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development. 24(9-10). pp.733-740.
Piercy, N., 2013. Evaluating experiential learning in the business context: Contributions to
group-based and cross-functional working. Innovations in Education and Teaching
International. 50(2). pp.202-213.
Rebuge, Á. and Ferreira, D. R., 2012. Business process analysis in healthcare environments: A
methodology based on process mining. Information systems. 37(2). pp.99-116.
Online
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