An Investigation into Leadership and Business Performance at Argos Ltd

This dissertation, submitted for a BSc (Hons) in Business Management, investigates the impact of leadership on the business performance of Argos Ltd. The research explores various leadership styles and their effects on employee motivation, productivity, and overall organizational success. The study employs both primary and secondary research methodologies, including questionnaires and literature reviews, to analyze the relationship between leadership and business outcomes. Key findings highlight the need for Argos Ltd to adopt effective leadership strategies tailored to its operational context, aiming to improve performance and employee engagement. The dissertation covers background information on Argos Ltd, research rationale, literature review, methodology, findings, discussion, and conclusions, including recommendations and implications for future research. It emphasizes the importance of leadership in guiding employees, fostering a positive work environment, and achieving organizational goals. The research also addresses the negative impacts of poor leadership and suggests strategies to mitigate these effects, ultimately contributing to enhanced business performance and sustainability.

BSc (Hons) Business Management Top up
BMP6001 Dissertation
An investigation into the impact of leadership over
business performance of an organisation
A study on Argos Ltd.

Table of Contents
Abstract i
Acknowledgement ii
Glossary iii
List of tables 27
List of figures 29
List of appendices 35
Chapter 1: Introduction 1- 3
1.1 Background to research topic 1
1.2 Background to research organisation 1
1.3 Research rationale 2
1.4 Research questions 2
1.5 Research aims and objectives 3
Chapter 2: Literature review 3-7
2.1 Introduction of literature review 3
2.2 Main body with heading and sub-headings 4
2.3 Conclusion of literature review 7
Chapter 3: Methodology 7-9
3.1 Research process 7
3.2 Research approach 7
3.3 Research strategy 7

3.4 Research methodology 8
3.5 Research instruments/tools 8
3.6 Sampling 8
3.6 Ethical implications 9
Chapter 4: Findings (data presentation) 11
Chapter 5: Discussion (data interpretation) 22
Chapter 6: Conclusion, recommendations and implications for further
research 23
7.1 Conclusion 23
7.2 Recommendations 24
7.3 Implications for further research 24
References 25

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of conducting this research is to determine effect of the leadership on
the performance of Argos Ltd. Moreover the objective of developing this report is to know
the role of leadership in a company and it also provides information connected to the
importance of leadership in respective company. it is also developed for understanding effect
of leadership on the performance of staffs at the respective firm as well as it also include
impact of poor leadership on business performance of Argos Ltd.
Design/methodology/approach– The research methodology used by respective researcher is
primary and secondary. For primary questionnaire will be developed as well as in respect of
secondary information will gathered from existing article, book, newspaper and so on.
Findings – According to the finding of research it is determined that Argos Ltd need to adopt
effective leadership style according to their business operations as well as current situation
which they are facing. It is so because through it they able to improve their productivity and
performance.
Practical implications – Through respective research it is determined that leadership style
impact on the performance of a company so it is essential for company to adopt proper style
according to situation.
Originality/value – Respective research is initial academic study which is conducted at the
Argos Ltd in order to study their leadership style for conducting work. Moreover it is also
conducted to know impact, importance and effectiveness of leadership on respective
company.
Key word – The key word of the respective research project is Leadership.
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Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks and gratitude to my parents and teacher to make me
competent and capable to do something valuable. I also want to thanks to my talented and experienced
supervisor that they give me their generous time as well as commitment for the completing of my
dissertation. I also want to gratitude him because he always provided his valuable time for helping me
out whenever I needed. I also want to thank him for quickly answered all my queries on email and
phone call, he always support me from the starting to ends of the dissertation project.
Furthermore, I would also like to gratitude all staffs of Argos ltd. who take out their precious
time for filling my research questionnaires because without their active participation I will not able to
conduct my research properly. In addition to this, at the last I want to thank my family members,
friends, relatives and senior at college for their cooperation, guidance and help during my research
project.
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Glossary
 Leadership – It is considered as method through which a leader will guide or lead another so
that they work properly at workplace.
 Mismanagement – It is considered as situation at which there is no proper work is conducted
at the workplace due to which goal is not attain.
 Discourage – It is determined as circumstances in which employees fell demotivated and do
not want to do work or any other think for company.
 Investigator – It is consider as person who conduct research for gathering information related
to topic.
 Legitimate information – It is considered as information or data which is authenticate and
reliable.
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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background to research topic
Leadership introduces as an art of motivating and encouraging group of people towards attainment of
organisational goals and objectives. In addition, it is an effective process used by business executive
for directing, guiding and influencing the individual’s behaviour and work towards achievement of
common goals within a given situation. Therefore, leadership is the capability of a leader to induce
the subordinates or employees to work with zeal and confidence (Al Khajeh, 2018). In an organization
it is essential that a manager or leader need to have leadership skill because through that they help in
doing business practices as well as functions in appropriate way. This will also aid in developing and
maintain proper and positive working atmosphere which leads to achievement of predetermined goal
and goal effectively. There are numbers of leadership styles which a manager or leader adopt for
conducting business operations and functions properly and effective such as autocratic style,
authoritative style, coaching style, democratic style, affiliative style and many more. It is also
essential that manager as well as leader must select leadership style according to the condition that
company is currently facing. Argos Ltd is a selected British Catalogue retail organisation operating in
the UK and Ireland. Along with this, leadership within an organisation plays a fundamental role by
improving business performance at marketplace. There are several importance of leadership including
higher employee morale, increased productivity, better decision making, building of inclusive
working environment, creating confidence, providing guidance, increased motivation and many
others. These are considering main significance of leadership that have positive impact over
organisational performance of company. Apart from this, there is some negative effect of poor
leadership that have effects on business’s capability to retain workers and lower employee motivation,
productivity and moral (Ladkin, 2020). These effects are loss of motivation to work, poor scale
performance, lack of ownership, mismanaged resources, poor work structure and evaluating poor
leadership. These are considering major effects of leadership that impact on business performance of
Argos Ltd in negative manner. So it is essential for the respective company manager and leader to
conduct analysis and develop proper strategies and plans through which negative impact of poor
leadership can be minimize or revolved properly. This is essential because through that Argos Ltd
able to attain their desire goal as well as objectives in successful manner as well as it also aid in
retaining staffs for the long time duration. In addition to this by adopting effective leadership
respective company manager as well as leader able to attain several benefits such as they able to
ensure that all the employees are conducting their work in effective manner. Through this
performance of employees as well as company able to increase this also leads to enhancement in
company profit and market shares. Effective leadership also essential for the employees as through it
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they get proper guidance related to work which ensure that work will accomplish on time as well as in
best manner. Along with this, implementation of effective leadership also help in ensuring there in
process there is minimum wastage for which manger and leader conduct planning.
1.2 Background to research organisation
Argos Ltd is a chosen organisation for this dissertation proposal. It is British Catalogue retailer that
was founded by Richard Tompkins in 1972 (Argos Ltd , 2020). Company specialise in selling of
consumer goods through its physical stores and online. Home appliances, audio equipment ,
television, jewellery, bedding, toys, sporting goods etc. are consider consumer goods offered by
Argos Ltd to its customers. Argos have made lot of probabilities or chances to its leadership structure
ensuring the promotion of managing administrator John Walden to chief director of parent company
i.e. Home retail group. Respective company conduct their trading through physical store or shops and
online medium. There are nearby 833 retail shop and there are 29 million yearly customers who shop
at the customers. It is also considered as one of the famous as well as largest high street retailers at the
United Kingdom as well as it has also nested their franchise in the overseas nations such as China.
The official charity partner of respective company from 2015 to 2018 was Macmillan Cancer Support
as well as from 2018 the official charity partner is The Alzheimer’s Society. Respective company has
numbers of competitors such as N Brown Group Plc., Coldwater Creek Inc., Leon’s, Pick ‘n Pay,
Superdrug. (Bratton, 2020) LTD commodities, Bluestem Group and many more. In this organisation,
leadership plays an important and significant role by providing accurate guidance to the each
employee. As proper guidance from leader will be beneficial for employee as they work in effective
and systematic manner. This turn to support Argos Ltd in improvement of it’s business performance
and also in accomplishment of long term goals and objectives in lesser time period. In addition to this
it is essential for respective company management to adopt proper leadership style or strategies as that
will help in handling situation as well as issues in effective manner. For which respective company
manager and leader need to determine and analyse which leadership such as autocratic style,
authoritative style, coaching style, democratic style, affiliative style and many more is appropriate for
their business operations and functions. It is essential for them because that will help them in
developing effective decision as well as planning that may leads to enhancement in performance and
productivity which directly linked with increase in sales as well as profitability ratio. Along with this,
selection of best leadership style is beneficial for both company and employees because through it
company able to attain their pre determined goal as well as enhance their profitability. On the other
hand it is beneficial for employees because they able to get proper guidance which enhances their
working style as well as that also minimize errors.
1.3 Research rationale
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Main reason behind selecting this topic or research is to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of
leadership and its impact on business performance of company. Leadership is a main part of company
that plays very important role in improving performance and productivity of an organisation. This
research is impotent at personal well as professional level. At personal level, this investigation
supports researcher by improving its researcher skills i.e. literature review skill, data collection skill,
time management skill, data analysis and many other relevant to the study. At professional level, this
topic helps in increasing awareness about the different types of leadership styles and its impact on
performance and ability of companies. As it is an important topic that helps at different level and
enhances awareness among people, organisations and societies about the role of leadership (Arain,
2018). By conducting respective research, project manager able to provide recommendation to
respective firm as that will aid then in effectively implementation of the leadership activities in proper
manner. Moreover it will also help in enhancing their performance in effective manner which lead to
attainment of desire objective effectively. Along with this, it also provide data or information which is
based on how this firm can increase its employees’ performance so that they will accomplish the
allotted work in best manner as well as with minimum wastage. As through it company expenses get
decrease as well as it also lead to achievement of goal impressively. By this research project manager
able to determine negative effect of the poor leadership on performance and productivity. On the other
hand, by conducting respective research researcher of respective research also want enhance their
skills, abilities and capabilities related to similar topic so that they can conduct more effective
research in the future. This will also help investigator to understand which data collection methods is
more appropriate for the respective types of research accordingly which they can conduct planning as
well as analysis. Moreover, it will also enhance researcher understanding as well as knowledge related
to the role of leadership at workplace of a company and it also help them in understanding
significance of leadership for enhancing business performance. This research also help researcher in
determining how different leadership styles impact on company’s employees performance as well as it
also aid in understanding negative impact of poor leadership on company performance and
productivity.
1.4 Research question (s)
Research question or questions are considered as list of questions which researcher wants to
identify by conducting research activities. This will help researcher in providing recommendation to
company according to outcome.
 What is the role of leadership at workplace of an organisation?
 What is the significance of leadership for enhancing business performance of Argos Ltd.?
 How leadership styles effect on Argos Ltd and performance of its employee?
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 What is the negative impact of poor leadership on performance and productivity of Argos
Ltd?
1.5 Research aims and objectives
Research Aim
Research aim is determine as factor which expresses the intention or aspiration of the
researcher and its study. It is also considered as summary form which is accomplish in single sentence
related to what researcher is hoping to attain through the respective research project.
Main aim of this proposal is “To determine the impact of leadership on organisational
performance. A study on Argos Ltd.
Research Objectives:
Research objectives are considered as points which researcher want to evaluate in order to get
outcome of the research so that they can provide recommendations to the company. In this researcher
mainly develop the different aspects related to aim which they want to evaluate in the research.
 To identify the role of leadership in context of an organisation.
 To identify the importance of leadership in improving business performance of Argos Ltd.
 To analyse the effect of leadership styles on Argos Ltd and its employee’s performance.
 To ascertain impact of poor leadership on business performance of Argos Ltd.
Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Introduction of literature review
Literature review is also known as narrative review which is considered as a type of article review. It
is determined as scholarly paper which presents current understanding and knowledge which include
theoretical, methodological and substantive findings which contribute to the specific research topic or
aim. This is also considered as secondary sources that didn’t include any new or original experimental
work. Literature review generally review the literature which may include parts of peer reviews
journal articles that present the new research, serving situation according to current study and many
more (Shields, 2020). Literature review is generally developed at the time of graduation as well as
post graduation according to which student’s grade is dependent. In respect of respective research
which is based on the leadership, literature review section will include information related to the role
of leadership, importance, effectiveness and impact of poor leadership.
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2.2 The impact of leadership over business performance – An
overview of literature review
The role of leadership at workplace
As per the perspective of Duggan, 2019, in an organization leader plays several roles
which help them in attaining desire goal as well as objectives in successful manner and it also
help in developing and maintaining proper working culture at the workplace. So it is essential
for company manager and leader to implement leadership at their workplace in effective
manner as that is effective for both employer as well as employees. There are several roles of
leadership at the workplace of a company, from which some main are mentioned below:
Figure 1.: Roles of Leadership
Source - Leadership: Leaders & Their Role in Organizations. 2020
Set clear vision – According to this role manager or leader of a company able to set proper
vision by adopt leadership. This is so because through proper leadership style a person able to
understand situation according to which they can develop strategies as well as plan for
attaining company’s desire or predetermined goal or aim successfully. For example by setting
clear vision Argo’s employer able to guide their employees that, what they need to conduct as
well as in what manner. Through that accomplish of work will done properly on timely
manner with minimum wastage and errors. This will also help in attaining the desire goal of
company as well as employees successfully.
Motivate employees – It is one of the important roles of leadership according to which
manager or leader need to motivate employees so that they perform their duties in effective
manner as that will leads to attainment of desire goal as well as aim successfully (Leadership:
Leaders & Their Role in Organizations. 2020). Through this employee also able to get
encouraged to adopt new strategies and plans by which company will attain their desire goal
successfully. For example when Argo’s employer motivate their employees which is a part of
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leadership then employees feel motivated as well as encouraged that enhance their
performance. Through this company able to adopt new technology or change easy as
employees are always ready and encouraged to work as they feel motivated. This will also
enhance their performance through which company able to attain desire goal.
Guide employees – Implementation of effective leadership leads to situation which guides
employees while they are performing their duties. Through this management able to guide or
coach their staffs so that they perform their allotted task in effective manner as that will help
in attaining desire goal as well as objective successfully. In addition to this, it will also lead to
avoiding or minimising error in the process which also helps in reduces wastage of resource
and cost. For example when employers of Argo’s company guide their employees they able
to know how to conduct specific work so that there will be minimum wastage as well as work
will accomplish in less time. Along with this, when an employees get proper guidance at the
workplace they feel motivated as well as encouraged which enhance their performance and
job satisfaction successfully. This is beneficial for company as they able to attain their desire
goal successfully.
Encouraging team work – It is also role of leadership through it management of a company
able to encourage team work according to which employees will divided into team and after
that they will conduct their allotted work respectively (Leithwood, Harrisand Hopkins, 2020).
By encouraging team work they also able to ensure that there is positive working
environment at the workplace which leads to attainment of desire goal successfully and
effectively. For instance when Argo's boss encourage their workers which is a piece of
administration then representatives feel supported just as rouse that upgrade their exhibition.
Through this organization ready to receive new innovation or change simple as
representatives are consistently prepared and urged to function as they feel encouraged. This
will likewise improve their exhibition through which organization ready to achieve want
objective.
Discussion – According to this role leader of a company need to conduct discussion along
with their employees because through that they able to understand their feeling according to
which decision can be developed. Moreover conducting discussion also help in understanding
the need as well as demand of the staffs in effective manner. For example when manager and
leader of Argo’s involve their employees in decision making process they feel motivated as
well as encourage as they feel valuable at the workplace. This will also help manager to get
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