Evaluating Leadership Style's Impact on Sainsbury's Effectiveness

This report evaluates the impact of leadership styles on organizational effectiveness, focusing on Sainsbury as a case study within the competitive retail industry. The study examines various leadership theories, including transformational and transactional leadership, and their influence on employee motivation and performance. The research employs a qualitative methodology, utilizing interviews with Sainsbury managers to explore the different leadership approaches used and their effects on achieving organizational goals. The report investigates the significance of leadership styles in improving productivity, fostering employee dedication, and adapting to dynamic business environments. The findings highlight the relationship between leadership practices and Sainsbury's overall success, providing insights into effective leadership strategies within the retail sector. The report includes a literature review, research methodology, data analysis, and conclusions with recommendations, offering a comprehensive understanding of leadership's role in organizational effectiveness.

“Evaluate the impact of leadership style on the organizational
effectiveness: Case study of Sainsbury”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am thankful to my mentors, friends and family who have provided me great support at
the time of carrying out the study. Especially my mentor who supported me in tough situations as
well as provided me right direction to carry out the entire course of study in the best possible
manner.

ABSTRACT
Leadership acts as a base for company which helps in attaining the goals in a manner in
which it is planned. However, due to dynamic business environment and diverse culture, leaders
face issue in managing the subordinates. Therefore, leaders need to incorporate different set of
styles in order to manage the workforce in a desired manner. In context to retail industry which is
considered as one of the most competitive industry in the world requires proper management and
execution of different approaches and resources so that position can be maintained or improved
within the target market.
Among the different theories of leadership and motivation linked with the organizational
effectiveness, the most prominent is transformational and transactional theory of leadership. It is
because, different authors stated that transactional leadership style is the approach through the
help of leader motivates employees or subordinates through a system of rewards and
punishments. However, different leadership styles are being employed by the store managers of
the Sainsbury so as to motivate or encourage their subordinates and influence them to carry out
the work in effective and efficient manner.
Further, it has been identified that most of managers prefers to change their leadership
style which is suitable as per the situation and assist them to lead people in right direction and
guide them to attain desired results and outcomes. Furthermore, operating in such a competitive
environment leadership approach assist the managers to implant dedication and loyalty within
the employees so that they can commence their work in more reliable manner.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................
1.1 Background of the Study.......................................................................................................1
1.2 Rationale of the Study............................................................................................................1
1.3 Research Aim and Objectives................................................................................................2
1.4 Research Questions................................................................................................................2
1.5 Framework and Analysis.......................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................................
2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................4
2.2 Leadership style and Performance.........................................................................................4
2.3 Organisational effectiveness..................................................................................................8
2.4 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY................................................................................
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................10
3.2 Research instruments...........................................................................................................10
Chapter 4: Data Analysis....................................................................................................................
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................15
4.2 Analysis...............................................................................................................................15
4.3 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................22
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations...................................................................................
5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................24
Recommendation.......................................................................................................................25
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................
Appendix............................................................................................................................................
Questionnaire.............................................................................................................................29

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Leadership is a key concern for the organization as it aids in developing path to lead
towards the shared goals and objectives. It supports in developing vision for business along with
strategy through which it can be attained. With the help of effectual leadership style, company
can able to retain skilled and competent employees who essentially help in boosting the
effectiveness. Also, it aids in attaining business objectives in desired time frame. It is required
that leader must inspire, influence and motivate employees so that coordination with
subordinates can be developed. It is evident from the study of Analoui, Doloriert, Sambrook,
(2013) that now a days, manager faces issue with regards to adopting standard leadership style
due to differences in the culture and beliefs of employees. Further, leader faces issue due to
differences in the personality of employees and this certainly affects the business operations.
Therefore, it is a serious requirement for assessing the impact of leadership style on the
organizational effectiveness and hence, present research is carried out.
With the help of this study, effectiveness of leadership has been assessed and its impact
on organizational effectiveness is evaluated. It has been found that different leadership style has
different role in the organization such as autocratic style helps in maintaining discipline,
democratic aids in developing coordination, laissez faire assists in delegating roles and
participative helps in working with equal participation from different employees. Therefore,
main focus of this study is to assess the effect of different leadership practices on company’s
operations.
To conduct this study, Sainsbury has been taken into account which is a giant retail
company that employs personnel from different culture and region. By conducting this research,
ideas have attained with respect to effectual leadership style in different contexts that company
can employ for boosting the organisational effectiveness. Through this, better strategy can be
developed with respect to leadership.
1.2 Rationale of the Study
Leadership acts as a base for company which helps in attaining the goals in a manner in
which it is planned. However, due to dynamic business environment and diverse culture, leaders
face issue in managing the subordinates. Therefore, leaders need to incorporate different set of
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styles in order to manage the workforce in a desired manner. This present research has helped in
assessing whether applying different set of styles affects the business operation or not. Another
rationale of this study is to assess the link between leadership style and improving productivity
of the organization. In addition to it, present research supports in literature by defining the
unexplored part of leadership which can be used by other companies to boost its efficiency in the
marketplace.
1.3 Research Aim and Objectives
Main aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of leadership style on the organizational
effectiveness. In order to conduct this study, Sainsbury has been selected which is one of the
prominent names within the retail sector.
For attaining above stated aim, following are the objectives developed.
1. To understand the concept and meaning of organizational effectiveness.
2. To identify different types of leadership style used at Sainsbury.
3. To analyse the role of varied leadership style in attaining organizational effectiveness.
1.4 Research Questions
For this research, following questions have been taken into account:
 What are the different types of leadership styles used by managers to attain organisational
growth and sustainability?
 How leadership styles assist in improving productivity of the business?
 What is the significance of appropriate leadership style for organisational effectiveness?
1.5 Framework and Analysis
In order to conduct this study, interpretivism philosophy has been applied as it requires
interpreting the responses that have attained through interview. In this, responses have been
interpreted on the basis of past literature so that actual reasons behind any statement can be
attained. Further, exploratory design is incorporated in this research in order to gain new set of
information with respect to leadership and organizational effectiveness (Bryman,
2015).Moreover, data is collected from primary as well as secondary sources. In this regard,
primary data has been collected from the top level managers of Sainsbury. They have been
targeted because they are the one that can brief about leadership and organizational effectiveness
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in an appropriate manner. Interview will be based on semi structured approach so that required
information can be attained. On the other hand, secondary data will be collected from sources
like books, magazines, online articles, blogs, journals, newspaper and other related.
Sample size for this research is determined as four managers which is being selected with
the help of convenient sampling. In order to analyse the data, qualitative measures have been
applied. In this regard, thematic method is used in which themes are developed based on the
interview questions. From this, appropriate result is attained by evaluating responses of the
managers of Sainsbury (Zikmund and et.al., 2012).
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
Literature review is one of the important section of the entire study which assist in
developing theoretical base for the researcher to make in-depth analysis on the chosen topic.
However, in this chapter varied sources are used to gather wide range of information on different
prospects of the study. Further, perception and thoughts of different authors and researchers are
taken into account which assist in developing suitable platform for the investigator to carry out
their entire course of study in effective and efficient manner. Herein, researcher focuses on
evaluating the organisational effectiveness on various leadership styles in retail sector.
Considering the nature of topic secondary research play a vital role in the analysis section
because it will help in justifying the responses of managers generated through different methods.
Further, to collect secondary data use of different secondary sources such as books, journals,
online articles, blogs etc. will be taken into consideration so that valuable and reliable
information can be generated for conducting the study on selected topic.
2.2 Leadership style and Performance
According to Adair, (2011) leadership refers to the ability of an individual to influence a
group towards the achievement of goals. In the study of Ehrich, and English, (2012), leadership
has been identified as the significant subject in the field of organizational performance. However,
according to the author, the ability of management of organizations to execute collaborated
efforts depends upon the leadership capabilities (Ehrich and English, 2012). Analoui, Doloriert,
Sambrook (2013) explained in their study that, excellent leader not only motivate or encourage
colleagues or subordinates to enhance the efficiency but also focuses on meeting their needs and
wants in the process of achieving organisational effectiveness. Bertocci, (2009) defining
leadership as the individual behaviour that guides group or a team to achieve desired common
target. Thus, managers in different organizations’ use varied types of leadership style to inspire
and enhance potential of employees regarding growth and development (Bertocci, 2009).
According to the Dugan, (2011), there are several reasons that clearly defines that there is a
correlation between leadership style and organisational performance. First of all, the current
intensive and dynamic markets features innovation based competition, price/performance rivalry,
decreasing returns, and destruction of existing competencies. In this context article of Ehrich and
English, (2012) states that, effective leadership approaches can assist the improvement of
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performance when organisations face these new challenges.
According to the study of Hay and Hodgkinson, (2006) there are several leadership styles
that are used by the managers to motivate and encourage the performance of employees so that
overall effectiveness of the firm can be improved. Further, author states that leadership styles not
only have significant effects on the small businesses but also on the world's largest corporations
(Hay and Hodgkinson, 2006). Different types of leadership styles are autocratic, democratic,
delegative and transactional etc. Furthermore, in the study of Analoui, Doloriert and Sambrook
(2013) researcher evaluated that, there are various organisations which seek efficient approaches
to enable themselves to outperform others mainly focuses on the effect of leadership. In such
companies, team leaders are believed to play vital role in shaping the collective norms within the
business to assist teams to cope with changing environment and generating desired results and
outcomes (Analoui, Doloriert and Sambrook, 2013).
As per the view of Bouton (2007), autocratic leadership style clearly defines the division
between leaders and workers. However, an autocratic leader takes decision with little or no
involvement from employees. This type of leaders is supremely confident and comfortable about
the judgment or task they are carrying out. In context to business effectiveness, autocratic
leadership styles display less creativity than the other contemporary style. The main purpose of a
leader is to get connected with the employees and motivate them or encourage to carry out the
work in the best possible manner so that overall productivity of can be enhanced (Bouton, 2007).
This leadership style does not focus on involving employees in decision making process that at
times can leads to create negative perception in the mind of individual. Contradicting to this,
Reigeluth (2013) states that, autocratic leadership style is effective in the case when company
require quick fire decisions so that it can overcome obstacles and issues. Similar to this, in the
situation of constant change autocratic leader is able to respond to the situation quickly and
prevents the business from falling behind (Reigeluth, 2013). Supporting to this study of
Heckhausen, and Heckhausen, (2008) revealed that, manager using such leadership style always
have close oversight on the activities of workers which assist in eliminating the waste and
enhance the efficiency in achieving desired results and outcomes.
Other than this, according to Adair, (2011) researcher evaluated that democratic
leadership style is considered as the most effective approach of leading the team in a company.
However, it is the exact opposite of the autocratic leadership style as it emphasizes on involving
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employees from each level to provide their views and thoughts about the current position of
business so that potential improvement can be implemented with the mutual concern of all the
people. Ehrich and English, (2012) states that, leaders possessing such leadership style have the
right to make decisions but before making any judgement always encourage the feedbacks, ideas,
and suggestions from the employees so that best possible can be made for the company. In the
book of Bertocci (2009) investigator evaluates that, democratic leadership style encourage better
contribution from group members and increased the group moral. Through the help of this
leadership approach, manager can lead to more creative and effective solution to the problems of
business enterprise because group members are encouraged to share their views and ideas.
Contradicting to this; Timothy and et. al, (2011) illustrates that, in the situations where roles are
unclear and limited time is available to carry out the work, democratic leader can lead to
communication failures and even uncompleted projects. Thus, it is important for the managers of
the companies to change their leadership approach as per the situation so that they can easily deal
with the conditions and enhance the organisational effectiveness.
In context to corporate environment, Mendez and et. al, (2013) defines laissez faire
leadership style as the least effective option. In this leadership style, manager gives all the
powers and authority of making decisions to the workers or team members. Furthermore, using
this approach manager does not provide any kind of direction to the team or group (Mendez, and
et. al, 2013). In this context study of Bouton (2007), assist in evaluating that, if a leader
withdraws too much from their followers it can sometimes result in a lack of productivity,
cohesiveness and satisfaction. However, this type of leadership style is only promoted in sectors
like construction, education etc. it is because; team members or workers in these sectors are
highly skilful, experienced and educated. Along with this, author highlight that, employees have
pride in their and drives to doe it’s successfully on their own which helps them personally as well
as to the organization as whole. Similar to this Denscombe (2012) states that, transactional
leadership concentrates on close monitoring of the activities to minimize errors and mistakes and
then take corrective action as quickly as possible to handle the situation appropriately
(Denscombe, 2012).
In the study of Ehrich and English, (2012) it has been identified that, among the different
theories of leadership and motivation linked with the organizational effectiveness, the most
prominent is transformational and transactional theory of leadership (Ehrich and English, 2012).
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As explained in the research of Analoui, Doloriert, Sam brook, (2013) transactional leadership
style as the approach through the help of leader motivates employees or subordinates through a
system of rewards and punishments. However, this system is based on two factors such as
contingent reward and management by exception (Analoui, Doloriert, Sambrook, 2013).
Supporting to this; Heckhausen and Heckhausen, (2008) states that, contingent reward assist
managers to motivate employees in terms of enhancing their skills and abilities so that they can
achieve set benchmark and generate desired results for the firm. Further, author states that
transactional leaders display both constructive and corrective behaviors. However, both this
behaviors assist the company to enhance its effectiveness such as constructive behaviors entails
contingent reward while on the other hand corrective behavior imbibes management by
exception. This type of leaders encourages incentives and bonuses to motivate employees and
carry out best in them so that effectiveness of entire organization can be enhanced.
On the other hand of it, Hay and Hodgkinson (2006), states that transformational leaders
raise the level of consciousness within the followers regarding the significance and value of
designated outcomes and approaches of attaining the best possible outcomes (Hay and
Hodgkinson, 2006). In support to this fact Timothy and et.al, (2011), proposed that,
transformational leaders are the one who motivate followers to surpass their own expectation of
self-interest for the sake of achieving organizational goals and objectives. In terms of
organizational effectiveness, this type of leaders are able to gain trust, admiration, loyalty and
respect from the followers with the help of which employees are motivated to put more efforts as
compared to what originally expected from them. However, it has been identified that, the
transformational leaders motivates the individual by making them aware about the significance
of the outcomes and encouraging them to transcend their own self-interest in contributing
positively towards the smooth and successful functioning of business enterprise (Timothy and
et.al, 2011). In context to retail industry, leadership plays an important role just because of the
fact that level of competition faced by the firms is enhancing day by day which induce them to
provide quality of services to their customers for higher rate of retention and long term
sustainability. According to Mendez and et.al, (2013), transformational leadership style in retail
sector possess great assistance to both managers and employees as leader is able to coordinate
the working of employees effectively and create better working environment through his/her
motivating and encouraging thoughts so as to attain desired level of outcomes from the
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employees and enhance the effectiveness of the organization (Mendez and et.al, 2013).
2.3 Organisational effectiveness
Looking at the present competitive market it is important for the companies to enhance
their business operations at each level so that they can maintain the position in existing market
and achieve future sustainability. According to Ehrich and English (2012) defines the
effectiveness of an organisation as the ability to exploit the environment to acquire wide range of
resources and carrying out business operations effective and efficiently. In simple words, Bouton
(2007) illustrate that, organisational effectiveness is the concept of how effective company is in
achieving the organization intended goals and objectives. In this, leadership plays a crucial role
as managers are the one who are responsible for carrying out the operations through the help of
employees (Bouton, 2007). In this context, Timothy and et. al, (2011) states that, in order to
generate desired and intended outcomes it is important for the managers to make use of effective
leadership approach that suits the situation and positively commence the entire functioning of
business enterprise. In the present market, companies operating in distinctive sectors are facing
high level of competition. Thus, leadership is the major tool and technique through the means of
which managerial level people can develop strong base for the company and assist in achieving
competitive edge within the market (Timothy and et. al, 2011).
Through the study of Mendez and et. al, (2013) researcher identifies that, leadership style
can affect the communication and productivity of business. However, a bureaucratic leader
always tends to slow up the communication in order to check every part of the functioning. This
may lead to decrease in efficiency of business enterprise (Mendez and et. al, 2013).
Contradicting to this Bouton, (2007), defines that, managers has the responsibility to carry out
the functioning appropriately. Thus, it is important to undertake suitable leadership style
according to the situation so that best possible results and outcomes can be generated. Further
author illustrates that, measuring and analyzing the organisational leaning has become one of the
most important factor and play significant role in success of the organization (Bouton, 2007).
Generally, performance or effectiveness of the company is measured on the basis of qualitative
and quantitative factors i.e. profit, costs and client’s perception. However, it important for the
company to evaluate these indicators for analyzing the functioning as per the defined goals and
objectives of the company. However, considering the expectations of employees monetary
benefits are considered as the biggest encouragement factor for the individual which assist
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