Challenges of Real World Management: A Leadership Perspective

This report delves into the challenges faced by management leaders in the dynamic real-world business environment. It begins by identifying key research questions concerning leadership roles, management challenges, and their impact on business scenarios. The study employs Mintzberg's theory to analyze managerial roles and responsibilities, simplifying workplace complexities. The research methodology adopts a positivism paradigm and a qualitative approach, using interviews to gather data from managers. The report explores the challenges associated with work-life balance, using case studies of Lafarge and IKEA to illustrate real-world issues. The findings aim to provide insights into effective management practices and offer solutions for navigating the complexities of contemporary business leadership.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Research Questions................................................................................................................2
1.2 Research Rationale................................................................................................................3
2. Theoretical Framework: Mintzberg’s Theory.............................................................................3
3. Research Methodology................................................................................................................7
 Research Paradigm...............................................................................................................7
 Research Approach...............................................................................................................8
 Research Strategy.................................................................................................................8
4. Theory and Practices....................................................................................................................9
 Challenges with work life balance: Case Study of Lafarge................................................11
 Case study of IKEA............................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13

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1. Introduction
Management leaders face the day to day challenges in real life management scenario.
Especially, the emerging advancements in the business world have created the dynamic situation
for the leaders. According to Bartlett and Beamish (2018), majority of the leaders from the
middle and executive level has been facing most of the challenges in the real life management
scenario. Some of these challenges the development of managerial effectiveness, leading a team,
inspiring the associated workers, directing the change, developing the employees’ efficiency
level, maintaining cohesiveness among the team members, and managing the internal
stakeholders as well as he politics (Deresky 2017). The study will point out the emerging
challenges faced in the real life management scenario. Furthermore, the study will develop
Mintzberg Theory to identify managerial roles and responsibilities and simplifying the complex
concepts of the workplace. The identification of the research objectives and questions and
application of appropriate methodological approach would help in the developing the unreached
ideas about the subject area. The ideas received from the research findings will help in
understanding the real life challenges faced by the leaders within the organisation.
1.1 Research Questions
 What are the roles and responsibilities of the leaders to manage the real life business
scenario?
 What challenges the leaders have been facing in managing the real life management
scenario?
 How the emerging challenges have been creating the considerable impact on real life
business scenario?

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1.2 Research Rationale
Current advancements brought to the business world have transformed the situation and
demands of internal and external stakeholders. The organisations are generally driven by
competition and technological mechanisms that create fruitful impact on customer satisfaction.
The internal organisational management needs to respond towards the basic needs and demands
of the business stakeholders (Crane and Matten 2016). Accordingly, the organisational
functionalities are needed to be managed. Leaders play the most significant part in managing the
internal organisational functionalities as well as the associated employees. These managers face
day to day challenges to develop the organisational excellence and write the employees towards
achieving their personal and professional goals. Especially, they face the majority of the troubles
to maintain their work life balance in this dynamic working scenario (Binder 2016). The extent
of these problems can sometimes be severe that may affect the organisational functionalities as
well as the morality of the associated employees. In addition to this, it is noticeable that the
sudden changes brought to the organisational functionalities may create the psychological
barriers among the employees. They need to have adequate knowledge regarding the day to day
challenges as they are the major information provider (Block 2016). The leaders need to take the
responsibility to motivate them and retain them during such situation. The study would therefore
focus on the probable challenges faced by the leaders in real life management world and the
impact of these challenges to manage the organisational scenario.
2. Theoretical Framework: Mintzberg’s Theory
Determining the complexities in the real-life organisation, Kumar (2015) implied that the
efficient leaders need to be much responsible to deal with this dynamic situation. Henry

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Mintzberg therefore developed the theoretical framework to break down the managerial roles and
responsibilities for simplifying Organisational complexities. According to his Insight, the skills
and efficiency level cannot be taught in classroom and need to be learnt through experiences
(Korica, Nicolini and Johnson 2017). Similarly, the leadership skills determine the development
of the experiences and responding accordingly to the emerging situation. It generally simplifies
the complex organisational functionalities and turns these into a more efficient culture. Such
cultures help the other employees to build their efficiency level by improving the area of
concerns.
Breaking down the managerial roles suggests five different organisational structures.
First is simple structure, which consists of several executive and multiple numbers of
subordinates. Second is machine bureaucracy which identifies the workers as self driven
machines (Arevalo, Laud and Johnson 2016). These workers need to be responsible for their
own task and decision making process. Each of the department needs to follow such guidelines.
Third is professional bureaucracy that signifies that the professionals are free from
centralization and can work independently (Madanayake and Gibson 2015). People can select the
task as per their specific skill set. The next is divisional form, which develops the diverse work
scenario that is delegated among different departments. Each of these divisions identifies their
own activities as well I see functionalities. The next structure is adhocracy, which eliminates
idea of the formal structure. It is generally formulated by gathering highly qualified employees
from team that can perform in a dynamic situation and adjustable during any changes (Fruhen,
Watkins and Jones 2015).

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This different organisational structure identifies the roles and responsibilities of the
manager and recognizes the interpersonal skills that are needed to be maintained. The different
job roles of the manager are stated further:
Interpersonal Managers:
 The figurehead manager is responsible for ceremonial, social, and legal matters. This
type of leader represents the company in the professional sales (Laud, Arevalo and
Johnson 2016).
 Second is a leader that suggests that the establishment of high level of communication,
inspiration, and arrange training for the team members. The associated team members
should look for the sufficient support and guidance from their managers.
 The next is Liaison, who is responsible for developing network outside of the company
and gathering necessary data for the organisational functions.
Informational Leaders
 First is a monitor, who is responsible for monitoring the internal and external
environment to assess the operational process and recognize the probable challenges
(Daft 2014).
 Next is disseminator who depends on the valuable information related to the associated
employees and delegate the jobs in accordance with their expertise level.
 Next is the spokesperson that is also quite dependent on the external information and
represent their brand.
Decision Making Leaders

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 First is the entrepreneur, who acts as an entrepreneur and inspired the innovations as
well as the changes within the organisation.
 The next is Disturbance Handler who deals with the emerging external and internal
issues by assessing them (Woodrow and Guest 2014).
 The next is resource allocator who needs to deal with the allocation of the resources,
from funding to equipment.
 The final is the negotiator who is generally responsible for directing and participating in
the negotiating situation of the organisation.
2.1 Benefits and Challenges of Mintzberg’s Theory
Identification of the managerial roles helps the leaders to deal with the day to day
challenges. They need to involve within the conflict management, negotiation process, and
representing the department at the board meeting (Gummesson 2017). This divisional structure
of the leaders is quite clarified which helps in understanding the roles and responsibilities. This
theory provides the insightful idea about developing the sales skills and knowledgeable attribute.
The development of diverse structural values helps in undertaking the self assessment criteria to
identify the area of improvement. This is quite beneficial in understanding which holds the major
priority level and which areas to be developed at the first stage.
It is true that this theory developed the clearing sites regarding the different managerial
roles within a workplace. However, in spite of such benefits, many criticisms are formulated
against this theory. Ennals et al. (2016) implied that many of the managers sometimes or not
theoretically knowledgeable. They need to keep their focus on the real life scenario and
experiences. In fact, they make decisions based on their experiences and learning atmosphere.

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(Shakya and Randerson 2018) argued that some of the managers require gathering knowledge
from theoretical analysis. The lack of theoretical knowledge prevents from developing a
successful track record that a demonstrating the innovative procedure. Many of the scholars even
identify that this theory lacks the use of proper methodological approach. It is noticeable that the
theory lacks the coherence level. There is no differentiation between the perspective and
descriptive statements (Deery and Jago 2015). This limitation hampers the successful behaviour
of the associated leaders. Hence, it is necessary to create the valid prescription that can influence
strategic behaviour of individuals.
3. Research Methodology
Research methodology provides a structured and systematic method of conducting the
research in a sequential way. The research methodology generally contains the appropriate
method of using the real life challenges surrounding the subject area. A structured methodology
is developed by concentrating on the specific Paradigms, approaches, technicalities and tools
(Kultalahti and Viitala 2015). The study is based on the real life scenario of the management.
Therefore, it is important to identify the appropriate methodological approach that can ensure the
exploration of the subject area in a systematic and synchronized way.
 Research Paradigm
The general categorization of the research paradigms represents two divisions, such as
positivism and interpretivism. Positivism philosophy deals with the extraction of truth from the
real life data (Smith 2015). On the other hand, interpretivism paradigm deals with the human
interpretation and makes those assumptions regarding the real life business scenario. The study is
also focusing on the real life challenges faced by the letters in their day to day business. The

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study would be developed by exploring the real life data gathered from the associated
participants. Therefore, it is based on the positivism paradigm that helps in extracting the hidden
truth and real life circumstances.
 Research Approach
The research study needs to have a clear focus on the subject area. Adopting a right
approach helps in identifying the area of concern and according the developed the structured and
concise information relevant to the study. The research approaches are based on two methods of
data collection, such as quantitative method and qualitative method. The study develops the
extensive idea about the real life scenario in managing the business functionalities. On the other
hand, the study explores the roles and responsibilities of the managers to deal with the day to day
challenges. It is therefore necessary to identify the responses of the associated managers who are
dealing with the dynamic situation of the business world (Dhas and Karthikeyan 2015). Hence,
the use of the qualitative approach would be much beneficial in such cases. The qualitative
approach explores the quality information received from the population who has been
experiencing the real life scenario. a limited number of responses would be helpful in analyzing
the major area of concern. Hence, the study is using the qualitative research approach, which
signifies the purpose of the study in a prominent way.
 Research Strategy
The use of the appropriate techniques and tools is the integral part of any research project.
The collected data needs to follow a proper mechanism, which will help in identifying the
relevancy with the subject area. The study is therefore concentrating on the appropriate use of the
Tools and techniques to collect necessary information from the number of population selected in

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this research. The study has selected interview process, to collect the responses from the people
who have been experiencing the real life scenario. They need to have adequate knowledge
regarding the day to day challenges as they are the major information provider (Honn et al.
2016). The interview will be taken to question the managers from different organisations. They
will share their experiences and the consequences of the management challenges in this
interview section. The face to face interview would be much appreciated. In this interview
process, the researcher can observe the body language, the voice modulation, and gestures to
understand their area of interest. The gadget responses in this qualitative interview session would
be connected to the theoretical information.
4. Theory and Practices
The interview session with the real life managers is quite informative for the researcher.
The shared their experiences as well as the dynamic work challenges that they have been facing
in their current situation. The responses received from the participants in this some of the biggest
management challenges faced by the business leaders and managers. First is the availability of
limited resources. One of the managers explains that the organisational excellence depends on
the Great investment resources. However, due to the shortage of resources, the managers cannot
structure the organisational functionalities as the expected way. Another manager implied that
they often face the considerable challenges due to the lower performance level of the employees.
The upper Management is concerned about the organisational functionalities. The organisations
are generally driven by competition and technological mechanisms that create fruitful impact on
customer satisfaction. The internal Organisational Management needs to respond towards the
basic needs and demands of the business stakeholders. However the low level of employee

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performance can hamper these functions and drive towards failure. It is therefore important for
them to take the initiative of improving employee performance level.
Another challenge is faced due to the long working hours and higher workload. In some
of the cases, the managers require staying back at the office and completing the pending work.
Therefore we need to invest more working hours and take heavy workload. This aspect can be
much challenging for them as they fail to maintain the proper work life balance, which is one of
the most effective aspects of motivation. According to Hinojosa et al. (2017), the current
advancements in the business for signify more challenges due to the increasing complexity level
of the organisation and functions. The skilled leaders are maintaining their responsibility to
develop a learning scenario and mitigate the challenges with some innovative solutions.
However, they often face challenges due to the changes in the technological field (Dhas and
Karthikeyan 2015). The Rapid pace of change in the workplace creates the dynamic scenario,
which help the employees to develop their technical knowledge. However sudden changes in the
technique create obstruction in the business functionalities.
Another most challenging scenario is faced in retaining the employees. It is notable that
the modern business does not only signify competition for the customers, it works well with the
employees. According to Khorasani and Almasifard (2017), the leaders need to deal with these
employees and with their daily motivations. The sudden changes brought to the organisational
functionalities may create the psychological barriers among the employees. They need to have
adequate knowledge regarding the day to day challenges as they are the major information
provider. The leaders need to take the responsibility to motivate them and retain them during
such situation. However, they have their long list of accomplishments and higher degree of
advanced education may opt for better opportunities. Hence, the leaders face the considerable

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challenges to retain them in a significant manner. In fact, during the change management
scenario, it has been observed that the employees face difficulties during the transition period.
The leaders need to identify the scope of the change management and convey it to the employees
to retain them for a longer time.
 Challenges with work life balance: Case Study of Lafarge
The current challenges observed among the managers and leaders highlight the basic issues
with insignificant approach in maintaining the work life balance. The operational activities of
Lafarge suggest certain demands for the construction projects (Galliers and Leidner 2014). It
created huge stresses on the managers, especially when they need to deal with the deadline
driven construction business. Pete Tuco, the human resources had become aware of the situation
and the insignificant maintenance of the work life balance. He understood that this work life
balance concerns are affecting both the employees and the managers. Evaluating the situation, it
has been observed that there were two major needs (Maxwell 2018). The first was to the
continuous demand from the individual to do more with less that time. The second desire of
Lafarge was to establish the business as an employer of choice in every operating location. It
was necessary to recognize the personal values of the employees and the managers as well. Pete
then spread the awareness among the executive team regarding the bottom line value for
managing in a better way.
Once the objectives are conveyed to the people, they started working on improving their
work life balance. The HR manager suggested that each of the individuals possesses some
specific skills that are needed to be used in their everyday life (Dhas and Karthikeyan 2015). The
availability of the adequate training process will help them to complete the task within a short