SBM3202 Leadership & Governance: A Report on Katie Page's Leadership

This report provides a critical analysis of leadership theories, focusing on the leadership style of Katie Page, the CEO of Harvey Norman. It explores various theories related to teamwork, leadership, diversity, ethics, and change management, connecting them to Katie Page's leadership abilities and contributions to Harvey Norman's success. The report highlights her role in the company's expansion into international markets, her ethical approach to business, and her effective change management strategies during the transition to e-commerce. The analysis concludes that while Katie Page demonstrates strong leadership qualities, there are areas for potential improvement, such as fostering greater employee engagement.

Running head: LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The main aim of the given paper is to critically analyze the different theories of leadership and to
highlight the manner in which the chosen leader fulfills all the aspect of leadership. The leader
which has been chosen for the purpose of the assignment is Katie Page. Katie Page is the current
CEO of Harvey Norman and over the years has portrayed exceptional leadership qualities by
undertaking extensive change for the business model and contributing to the success of the firm.
The report will analyze various theories in regard to subjects like ethics, change, team work,
leadership as well as diversity. The theories discussed are then connected to the ability off the
leader and a conclusion analyses her future path.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Literature Review............................................................................................................................3
Team work...................................................................................................................................4
Leadership....................................................................................................................................4
Diversity......................................................................................................................................5
Ethics...........................................................................................................................................5
Change.........................................................................................................................................6
Critical Study...................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Leadership can be rightfully defined as a procedure using which an organization can
successfully ensure that it’s able to successfully achieve its objectives. A leader is an individual
who guides the different organizational members and goes a long way in ensuring that these
members are able to contribute effectively towards the achievement of different organizational
goals. The leader which has been chosen for the purpose of the report has been chosen as Katie
Page. Katie is the CEO of Harvey Norman and has successfully lead the company during the e-
commerce era and has taken it to great heights. Belonging to a humble background, Katie grew
up in different locations like Rockhampton, St. George and Brisbane (Vogue.com.au, 2018). She
was very enthusiastic about herself and took up several jobs and intelligence tests while she was
young in order to improve her skills. When she initially joined the company, she was responsible
for marketing, ad purchasing and other communication related activities of the firm. She has
extensively contributed towards ensuring that Harvey Norman grows in size. She has been
chosen for the purpose of this report, because she has shown exceptional leadership skills and
with her guidance and experience she assisted the firm in expanding the different operations of
the firm into the different countries like Malaysia, Slovenia, Ireland and Singapore
(Harveynorman.com.au, 2018). It is due to her vision in guidance that the company currently
has around 277 stores in various countries and earns a net profit which is more than 165$
million. Over the time she has portrayed incredible qualities of a leader whereby she has shown
support to the employees, helped them to attain the vision, enabled a sense of belongingness and
in addition to this, she has seen to it that the firm progresses along with its employees.

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Literature Review
The given section will be analyzing the literature based on the different topics which have
been learnt throughout the particular model. This will deepen the understanding of the topic and
help in relating it to real life scenarios. The different topics which will be analyzed in the
particular literature review will be with respect to the theories of teamwork, leadership, diversity,
ethics as well as change management.
Team work
Team work can be defined as the integral aspect of any organization whereby the
members are required to work together in a team in order to see to it that the objectives of the
team are achieved at large. Team work requires a particular procedure and a synchronization
which becomes quite difficult to achieve and it is due to this reason that the different theories
related to team work and leadership need to be applied throughout the workplace at large. In
addition to this, according to Burns (2016), there are a large number of team work and team
performance theories available. One of the most popular theories of team work is the Team
Development theory as developed by Bruce Tuckman. Carnall (2018), states that the given
theory elaborates on the different stages through which a team passes while achieving the
objective and while ensuring that the team is successfully able to ensure a long term success.
Northouse (2018), has defined these different stages are Forming, Storming, Norming and
Performing. During these stages the team is formed which is then followed by the initial conflicts
following which the norms are formed and finally the team is required to perform.
Leadership
Leadership can be stated to be the art of managing a group of people and ensuring that
they are successfully able to see to it that the organizational goals are achieved at large. There are

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a large number of leadership theories which are available and can be thereby used to understand
the situation in an organization. The different leadership theories which are available are the
Great Man theory, Trait Theory, Transactional Leadership theory, Contingency theory and other
related theories. According to Lussier and Achua (2015), the different theories go a long way in
assisting an individual to ensure that they are able to manage the team. The different leadership
styles which are available like the transactional and transactional leadership style help a leader to
work along the members of the team and state that team participation is active to the
performance of the team at large. In addition to this, Northouse (2018), stated that the Trait
theory of leadership lays down the different traits which are present in a leader and if they are not
present they may lead to an inconvenience on the side of the leader.
Diversity
Diversity can be rightfully stated to be the presence of a broad range of employees in an
organization such that the belong to the different backgrounds with respect to race, sex,
education, income and other related aspects. According to Gani (2014), due to globalization, the
diversity has become a common part of the different organizations and with respect to this, the
leaders in an organization would be required to follow certain theories like the Resource based
view theory which states that the implementation of the diversity on the organization needs to
measured accordingly. In addition to this, there also exists the institutional theory of Diversity
Management which tends to highlight that the different laws and regulations inn an organization
need to be formed in a manner such that it supports diversity.
Ethics
According to Bowie (2017), ethics can be stated to be the identification of the right and
wrong in a particular situation as present. It is crucial that the organization understands that it is

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important to portray an ethical behavior at the workplace and it lies the responsibility of the
leader to ensure that ethical practices exist in the workplace. The three main different theories of
ethics at the workplace are the theories of Utilitarianism, Deontological approach and the
Communitarian approach (Brenkert, 2017). The Utilitarian approach is largely concerned with
the basic criteria for judging the utility of an action and checking whether it is ethical in nature or
not. According to Burns (2016), the Deontological approach concentrates on the rights and duties
which are required to be performed in an ethical manner. The correct action which needs to take
place is required to follow a general principle in nature. Lastly, the third approach towards ethics
is the Community based theory whereby it has been stated that the moral thinking has its source
from rituals of the community and other related aspects.
Change
Change is considered to be an effective part of the organization at large and the
organization is required to keep revolving so as to ensure that the firm is successfully able to
innovate and have a competitive positioning in the market. There are various change
management theories which are available and are required to be applied. According to Hayes
(2018), some of these popular theories are the Lewins change management theory which lays
down three basic of change which takes place in an organization and the Kotter’s 8 step change
model which lay down the steps which a person goes through while adapting the change.
Critical Study
A leader needs to ensure that the firm which the particular leader is heading is
successfully able to fulfill all the norms of an effective organization which comprise of the above
discussed components of essential teamwork leadership traits, diversity management, change
management and ethical consideration. Domain.com.au (2018), stated that Katie Page is often

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taken to be an effective leader in the sense that she tends to fulfill the all the criteria’s of an
effective leader by showing excellent team work, leadership and ethical skills. When she first
joined the company, she portrayed excellent team work skills whereby in her advertisement and
communication department she ensured that those working with her ad common goals and
worked towards the welfare of the firm. According to Vogue.com.au (2018), Katie follows a
transformational leadership style which is largely based on changing the style of the working
which takes place in the firm and ensuring that it is assigned as per the needs and demands of the
different employees. According to Crane and Matten (2016), in addition to this, the employees
love working under Page which reflects that she is a people`s person. Moreover, her stress on
working ethically and following all the competition laws and other regulations can be identified
by the fact that Harvey Norman has been performing successfully in a large number of countries
and has been successful in gaining the trust of the different consumers at large (Trevino &
Nelson, 2016). The ethical approach of Kate can be stated to be utilitarian in approach.
In the twenty first century, when an organization aims to attain long term success it is
required to ensure that it engages in diversity which will allow the amalgamation of different
ideas and thereby see to it that the employees of all race and culture are a part of the firm.
Cew.org.au (2018) has stated that Katie Page believes in diversity and this can be rightfully
witnessed by the fact that Harvey Norman has a large number of employees belonging to the
different backgrounds. Moreover, with respect to the change management, Katie Page has
followed the Lewin`s Model of change whereby she undertook adequate steps to ensure that the
company is successfully able to transfer from the brick and mortar segment to the e-commerce
segment by taking in the employees along with the different members of the firm present
(Deluxe.com ,2018).

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Conclusion
Therefore, from the given analysis as done on Katie Page, it can be stated that, Katie has
shown extreme resistance and vigor as a leader and has undertaken some daring steps to ensure
success for the firm at large. A leader needs to be an individual who is willing to take
considerable risks for the welfare for the people at large and with respect to this, Katie Page has
shown all credible characteristics of a leader whereby she has managed an incredible change
procedure of the firm along with ensuring that all the employees were successfully able to adapt
to the change which means that she believes in team work. However, very often she is taken to
be a weak leader due to gender discrimination and this often leads to a sense of concern but
during various interviews and seminars has portrayed the skills of a credible leader. In addition
to this, she possesses strong ethics and this has proved to be a positive aspect. Hence, she can be
termed to be a good leader at the workplace however, various aspects whereby she can show
signs of improvement is leadership and in addition to this she can also foster an environment of
employee engagement which will ensure long term success.

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References
Bowie, N. E. (2017). Business ethics: A Kantian perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Brenkert, G.G. (2017). Entrepreneurship, ethics, and the good society. In Entrepreneurship (pp.
85-128). Routledge.
Burns, P. (2016). Entrepreneurship and small business. Palgrave Macmillan Limited.
Carnall, C. (2018). Managing change. Routledge.
Cew.org.au (2018). Katie Page - Chief Executive Women. [online] Available at:
https://cew.org.au/members/katie-page/ [Accessed 19 Nov. 2018].
Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Deluxe.com (2018). The top 10 challenges faced by entrepreneurs today: solved. Retrieved from
https://www.deluxe.com/sbrc/financial/top-10-challenges-faced-entrepreneurs-today-
solved [Accessed 19 Nov. 2018].
Domain.com.au (2018). When Katie Page wanted the best apartments on the Gold Coast, she
built them herself. Retrieved from https://www.domain.com.au/news/why-harvey-
norman-ceo-katie-page-built-her-own-apartments-on-the-gold-coast-20170518-gvy6xu/
[Accessed 19 Nov. 2018].
Gani, A. (2014). Understand Entrepreneurship. Routledge

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Harveynorman.com.au (2018). Harvey Norman | Shop Online for Computers, Electrical,
Furniture, Bedding, Bathrooms & Flooring. Retrieved from
https://www.harveynorman.com.au/ [Accessed 19 Nov. 2018].
Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management. Pearson
Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2015). Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development.
Nelson Education.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Vogue.com.au (2018). Katie Page, CEO of Harvey Norman and women in sport advocate.
Retrieved from https://www.vogue.com.au/gamechangers/beauty-and-health/katie-page-
ceo-of-harvey-norman-and-women-in-sport-advocate/news-story/
203e2089ac20d98ab0a5655aa3f4c63f [Accessed 19 Nov. 2018].