Comprehensive Report on Leadership and Management in Sports Direct

This report examines the leadership and management approaches employed by Sports Direct, a prominent British retailing group. It delves into key theories like contingency and transformational leadership, illustrating how they are applied to achieve competitive advantage. The report analyzes the company's management and leadership styles, including autocratic and participative approaches, and emphasizes the importance of team working, exploring theories like Tuckman's Teamwork Theory and motivational theories such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It also discusses effective changes implemented by the company, such as globalization and new product introductions, and the use of Lewin's change management model. Furthermore, the report addresses ethical and value-based considerations, focusing on employee well-being and data privacy, and highlights the challenges Sports Direct faces in these areas.

MANAGEMENT AND
LEADERSHIP
PERSPECTIVES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
CASE STUDY.................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Key theories and the perspective adopted by the company..................................................1
1.2 Management and leadership approaches used by the company............................................2
1.3 Importance of Team working in the growth of company.....................................................3
1.4 Effective changes done by the company...............................................................................5
1.5 Ethical and value based considerations and challenges encountered by the company.........6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Sports direct is one of the renowned British retailing group with around 670 stores across
various nations. Many other sporting brands are also associated with it. Its alarming growth is a
reason behind the interest shown by stakeholders. Effective management is mandatory for the
success of every organisation. In this report various approaches and the motivational theories
implemented by the managers has been elaborated to evaluate more effective approaches to gain
competitive advantage.
CASE STUDY
1.1 Key theories and the perspective adopted by the company
Sporting goods are the main retailing products of the company. It has earned a revenue of
around £3,245 million with a net income of £231.7 million as evaluated in year 2017. These
figures depict the success of the firm. Various leadership and management theories are
implemented by the managers to have an effective control over the situational aspects. Some of
them are described below:
Contingency theory of management: According to this theory, the managers have to
make the decisions as per the prevailing situations rather than using the policy of “ one size fits
all”. Employees participation has to be increased using an appropriate leadership approach. The
same policy is adopted by the mangers of Sports Direct to beat the competitors.
Transformational theory of leadership: According to this theory , one has to appreciate
the innovations done by the employees to boost up their confidence. With the help of proper
awareness about a particular task managers can inspire the team to reach the goal. This
integration is mandatory for the success of organisation. The same is done by the management
team of Sports Direct for effective outcome (Knight, 2018).
In Contingency theory the managers have to take strict decisions which the employees
have to follow while with transformational approach consideration is given to employees also.
These theories helps to maintain the healthy relationship between the individuals working for a
particular task (Boin and et.al., 2016). With the help of this coordination performance factor can
be increased which is in the favour of company's success.
Various perspectives are also used by the managers to cope up the diverse situation prevailing in
the target market. Some of them are listed below:

 The good managers must have both management and leadership skills. This will help to
give proper direction to the employees while managing the other factors.
 Resource management is an another important perspective to be pondered upon. Money
and personnel have to be managed properly for efficient productivity. Proper cash flow
have to be maintained.
 Other important perspectives are objectives and the results. During the execution of the
steps to reach a particular goal one has to measure the extent to which the work is being
done by the managers. This will help to remove the flaws as early as possible.
In this way , the managers can use various approaches for the growth of an organisation.
1.2 Management and leadership approaches used by the company
To beat the competitors in this era various leadership approaches are used by the
company. The effective management done by the managers is a reason behind the current size of
the company (Bolden , 2016). For enhancing the performance of the employees and to keep the
customers satisfied , the managers of Sports Direct used to maintain healthy relationship with
both of them. This is one of the major reason behind the success of company.
Motivation is also given to the employees for their performance. This is really helpful to
increase their devotion towards a particular task. Incentives and rewards are given to the
employees for their achievement. In this way the managers used to increase the productivity of
the firm. Recognition is also been given to the employees for the innovation done by them. This
will help to build effective relationship and trust in between them.
Effective communication and team working are very important factors for the success of
any organisation. One has to understand the financial aspects in a better way to attain
profitability. To increase the morale of the employees emphasis is given on the positive working
environment. Education and training programs are also conducted to ameliorate the skills of
workers (Dinh and et.al., 2014). This will help the employees to manufacture the products using
advanced technologies to beat the competitors.
Also, as per the prevailing situations appropriate leadership styles are used by the
managers. This can be explained with the help of examples given below:

 Sometimes autocratic approaches are used by the managers in which they impose their
will on others. It is requisite in the case where people are trying to restrain work. This
will be helpful to have a control over employees in that particular situation.
 Participative or democratic leadership approach is also used by the managers to maintain
the healthy working environment. This is also a key factor for innovation. Consideration
is given to the team members which will help to increase their devotion towards work. To
beat the competitors this approach can be useful.
 In case if the employees have dilemma about their career prospects, one can navigate
their career opportunities with the help of relationship-oriented leadership approach.
Managers try to understand the needs of the employees with the help of this and make
strategies accordingly.
The managers of the company Sports Direct are smart enough to adopt the approaches as per the
needs of the situation. This is the reason behind the growth of the company from a single store to
the current size (Knight , 2018).
1.3 Importance of Team working in the growth of company
Team working is very important for the success of any business organisation. It is
comprised of a group of people to accomplish a particular task. For complex and large tasks this
must have to be implemented in an organisation to avoid any kind of confusion. Coordination
between the members is one of the fundamental requirement for effective team working. For
effective leadership and management , these basic principles have to be followed.
Opportunities to have an open communication must be given to the team members to
avoid any kind of conflicts. Effective coordination must be there in between them. To perform
the task on time along with the quality efficient cooperation must be there in between them. To
maintain the trust and performance factor high level of interdependence must have to be
propagated (Northouse, 2018). The same principle of team working are adopted by the managers
of this company to stand out in the target market.
For this assistance of various team working theories, such as, Tuckman's Teamwork
Theory , etc. is taken by the managers. Managers used to follow these four phases while making
a team.

In the first development stage known as forming , members try to find their place in the
team after having an interaction with the other members. In storming stage, people can challenge
each other because of the differences. They try to come up together in the next stage known as
norming (Thomas , 2015). Then , with the help of team relationship and coordination task is
going to be performed. In this way these theories can be used for effective results.
One has to motivate the employees for the achievement done by them. Importance of this
can be explained with the help of motivational theories. According to the theory of Maslow's
Hierarchy of needs it was postulated that to motivate the individuals their basic needs must be
fulfilled. This hierarchy is comprised of five levels namely: Physiological, safety, love or
belongings , esteem and self-actualisation. In order to increase their performance level these
basic needs must have to be met.
With the help of suitable approaches as per the needs of the prevailing environment one
can easily facilitate the change in an organisation which is very important to beat the
competitors. Innovations have to be done to garb the attention of the customers. This is possible
with the help of transformational leadership approach. Similarly, various management theory can
be applied to deal with the situations as per the requirement. Various tools are also there for
Illustration 1: Tuckman's team work theory
Sources: Team work article , 2018

effective management. Advanced task have to be accomplished in an organisation. One has to
take care of the employee's satisfaction to ameliorate their performance. Smart recruitment has to
be done. To enhance the employee's devotion performance appraisal process has to be
undertaken. Effective communication must be there in between the members for the ease of
processing (Western and Garcia , 2018). The same is followed by the company Sports direct to
innovate new products to associate with more and more customers.
1.4 Effective changes done by the company
In order to beat the competitors , various improvements and changes are done by the
company. It was started with the establishment of the single store. In order to increase the sales
and to connect with more and more customers it has tried to globalise its business. Till now it has
around 670 stores across various regions. It is also listed on London Stock Exchange which is
really considered by the stakeholders while doing investment. Also recruitment process has been
changed because of the need of more innovative and skilled staff to grab the attraction of the
customers (Bolden, 2016). Number of employees has also increased to 17,345 to deal with huge
population. IN order to garb the attention of more customers, various new products are also
introduced , for example , yoga mats, running outfits, swimming costumes etc. This will help to
associate the company with more number of people because of the versatile range of products
served by it. Advertisement policy is also renewed for the same. With the help of online services
like websites , blogs and also the social media site such as Facebook, Twitter etc. more
awareness has been created among the people about the qualities and products served by the
company.
With the help of continuous feedback tracking , the necessary improvement are done to
satisfy the customers according to their needs. Practice of online delivery is also implemented in
the organisation to serve the customers residing in any regions. This will help to connect the
company with more number of people (Knight, 2018). Various acquisition is also done to
manufacture the quality products. It has tried to bind with Rubber industries of Japan for making
rubber tyres, balls, etc. Various other outlet brands are also introduced by the company to set an
effective image. For example, SportsDirect.com, Everlast, etc.
With the use of Lewin's change management model one can easily facilitate the change.
With the help of three stages one can easily implement the changes to beat this competitive
environment. One has to unfreeze their process and perceptions to accept the new technologies.

Then the requisite changes have to be made for refreezing the new status. The managers have
taken the help of this model to facilitate the change.
Various tools have to be adopted to have an effective change implementation.
Flowcharting , mapping , project planning and field force analysis has to be done for this. Data
collection is an important aspects to deal with all this. IN this way the company has implemented
the change.
1.5 Ethical and value based considerations and challenges encountered by the company
Risk of harm for the employees is a major challenge in front of the company. While
dealing with such equipments ethical consideration is given to the employees to safeguard their
interest (Thomas, 2015). Privacy of the individual's information has to be maintained to
maintain their relationships with the managers. There were problems related to this factor but
because of the implementation of advanced technologies and new software this problem has been
resolved. IN this way the company is providing value based consideration to its employees. With
the help of cool and calm interaction respect is also given to the employees. Various laws has
been implemented for this ,for example, Protection of Genetic Information,2001 etc. In this way
the ethics and values are maintained in the company.
CONCLUSION
To conclude we can say that effective management and leadership style are the key
factors behind the success of company. One has to implement suitable leadership approach as per
the prevailing market conditions to gain the competitive advantage. One has to safeguard the
interests of the employees to enhance their performance.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Boin, A. and et.al., 2016. The politics of crisis management: Public leadership under pressure.
Cambridge University Press.
Bolden, R., 2016. Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower
handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.
Dinh, J.E. and et.al., 2014. Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current
theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly.25(1). pp.36-62.
Knight, J., 2018. Coaching: Approaches and perspectives. Corwin Press.
Northouse, P.G., 2018. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Thomas, T., 2015. Management and leadership for nurse administrators. Jones & Bartlett
Publishers.
Western, S. and Garcia, É.J., 2018. Global Leadership Perspectives: Insights and Analysis.
SAGE.
Online
Tuckman's Teamwork Theory, 2018. [online] Available through< http://the-happy-
manager.com/articles/teamwork-theory/>
http://the-happy-manager.com/articles/teamwork-theory/