Leadership Theories: Application in Organizations - Vodafone SCM

This essay critically evaluates leadership theories and their application within organizations, focusing on a case study of Vodafone's supply chain transformation led by Mr. Schultz. It discusses various leadership styles, including transformational leadership, and the skills required to implement significant organizational change. The analysis extends to stakeholder engagement, exploring strategies to influence key external stakeholders, and utilizes models like Lewin's change model and the McKinsey 7-S framework to assess the effectiveness of implemented changes. The paper addresses challenges faced during the Vodafone project, the importance of the supply chain management (SCM) team, and strategies for the SCM team to positively influence customers and comply with regulations, ultimately highlighting the need for proactive and decisive leadership in achieving organizational goals.

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MANAGING AND LEADING PEOPLE
This article aims to evaluate and discuss leadership theories and how they are
applied in various organizations. There are different models of leadership skills are
influenced by the character of a person and they can be shaped in a particular way to
achieve a pre-determined objective. There are seven types of leadership skills which
include; democratic leadership, autocratic leadership, laissez-faire leadership,
strategic leadership, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and
bureaucratic leadership. Every individual has to fall in one of the leadership
categories depending on their characteristics fit into the descriptions of the various
leadership skills. This study analyzes the case study of the Vodafone company supply
chain. Transformational leadership style is the styles that has been used by Mr Schultz
in leading Vodafone supply chain project. The style involves designing new processes
and policies that will bring positive change to the organization.The paper discusses
the leadership skills that Shultz required to transform the supply chain of Vodafone
communications. The article also analyzes the leadership models and theories to
determine the styles that Schultz could have adapted to engage effectively with the
critical stakeholders of the business. The third section of the paper evaluates the main
tactics and strategies that could have been used Vodafone and the SCM team to
influence the key external stakeholders to overcome the challenges that the supply
chain manager faced. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the change
implemented at Vodafone, Mr Schultz should use the Lewin`s model of change. The
model is divided into three stages which include; Unfreeze, change and refreeze. Each
of the stages is discussed in this paper. The other model that could be used to evaluate
change is the McKinsey 7 step model.

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Question 1
From the case study, it can be understood that Schultz came to Vodafone when
the costs of the supply chain were very high. The company hired him intending to
help to manage the complex procurement process of Vodafone effectively. To achieve
this difficult task, Schultz has to use transformational leadership style. The
transformational leadership style which focuses on bringing positive change and
improving the conventions of the organization by designing new systems and policies.
Employees working with a transformational leader are assigned a basic set of tasks
and goals to achieve within specific short periods like one week or a month. (Du,
Swaen, Lindgreen and Sen, 2013) The primary role of the leader to gide the team and
instill them with basic ideas on how they want the tasks to be achieved. The leader
also focuses on pushing the team members out of their comfort zone to achieve more
than they could have imagined before. Vodafone is a huge organization whose
procurement and supply chain was highly fragmented and hence increasing the costs
to the business. When joining the organization, Mr. Schultz had to ensure that he
deeply understands the current operations of the company as well as the culture of the
organization. This would help me understand how to approach certain aspects of the
organization to achieve change without getting resistance from the employees who
had worked at the organization for a long time.
To succeed in transforming Vodafone's supply chain, Mr. Schultz must possess a
variety of characteristics which made him a renowned transformational leader. One of
the characteristic possessed by Schultz which made him succeed in transforming the
procurement process at Vodafone is the ability to take risks. Schultz took a risk by
moving to such a large communication company and beginning a radical change

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process. Schultz also took the risk of failing in some of the decisions that he was
about to make on behalf of the company. Eventually, most of the risks that he took
produced positive results for the company. Another skill that Schultz needed in the
ability to inspire and motivate the team. During his recognition as the procurement
leader of the year 2011, Schultz was recognized as having excellent interpersonal
skills. This skill helps in bonding well with the team members and in making them to
buy into the leader's idea of change. Schultz is also capable of motivating people
positively and making them go out of their way to achieve their goals. For the project
to be successful, Schultz must be a proactive leader. This means that a leader takes an
active role in bringing change to the organizations. The leader should not wait to react
to occurrences or events in the organization.
To make the supply chain project a success, Schultz needed to possess the ability
to make difficult decisions. Being a leader is not a smooth sail. A transformational
leader must always be ready to make painful and difficult decisions for the sake of the
vision and mission of the organization (Jones,2013). At times, the decision may not be
accepted to most people within the organization and some people may even end up
losing their jobs but it’s all done with the interests of the organization at heart.
A transformational leader must share in the collective consciousness of the
organization. This means that they understand the purpose of the organization and are
aligned with the culture of the organization. For Schultz to succeed in implementing
change at Vodafone, he first needs to understand how the organization works and the
values of the organization. Some of the techniques used in the previous projects may
not be successful in this particular organization due to the differences in the culture
and other aspects of the organization.

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Question 2
A stakeholder can be defined as a person who is involved with an organization
either directly, and the success or failure of the organization affects them in one way
or the other. The shareholder theory was formulated in the 20th century by Milton
Friedman. It states that a company is only responsible for its shareholders and hence
the company must make profits for shareholders (Giltinane, 2013. )According to Dr.
Freeman, shareholders are merely one of the many shareholders of the company.
According to the stakeholder economy theory, a stakeholder is anyone who has
invested and who is affected by the activities of the organization (Giltinane, 2013. ).
The stakeholders of Vodafone involves; employees, environmentalists, government
agencies, suppliers, creditors, and investors. An organization should strive to satisfy
all stakeholders for it to be defined as being successful.
There are various styles that Schultz can use to influence multiple shareholders of
Vodafone. They include;
A) Leading by example
For Schultz to succeed in implementing the supply chain project, it is essential
that he influences stakeholders by leading them by example. For example, if the
leader wants the stakeholders to attend a meeting on time, they have to make sure they
arrive first. If its about discipline in the organization, they should be the most
disciplined among the group. This ensures that the group of stakeholders being
engaged develops confidence in Mr. Schultz and hence will support him in the
process of achieving the desired change.
B) Building trust

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To engage stakeholders effectively, it is important for Mr. Schultz cultivates trust
between him and the various groups of stakeholders. Developing trust entails being
honest at all times. Any promises made must be fulfilled on time, and any agreements
must be fulfilled as agreed. For example, if Mr. Schultz promises to pay suppliers at a
given rate and within for example 14 days of delivering goods, he needs to ensure that
this happens without fail. Mr. Schultz can also influence shareholders by making them
trust in his ability to streamline the procurement process and reduce costs for the
organization.
C) Being persuasive and avoiding the use of force
The best way to influence a person or group of people is to persuade them being
instilling positive thoughts in them. Mr. Schultz has to ensure that he endorses himself
to the emotions of the stakeholder group that he is influencing. No person likes being
ordered around or being coerced to do something. Mr. Schultz has to ensure that the
stakeholders believe in his ideas and vision so that they can work to support him in
achieving the goal. For example, Mr. Schulz will not achieve much by forcing
employees to perform tasks. The best way to achieve success is to make sure every
shareholder believes in what they are doing on behalf of the organization.
D). Allowing them to participate in decision making
For Mr. Schultz to influence Vodafone stakeholders, he needs to ensure that he
involves stakeholders when making decisions which affect them directly. When
different groups of stakeholders have a say in decisions affecting them, they tend to
feel valued by the organization. The stakeholders then get committed to the
organization more and more and hence making sure that long term and short term
goals of the organization are achieved.

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E). Inspire confidence
Displaying confidence is very critical in influencing shareholders within an
organization such as Vodafone. When arriving at Vodafone, Mr. Schultz had one
huge task of making the shareholders believe what he was set to change in the
organization would have a positive change in the company. He has to engage every
stakeholder and convince them of the benefit that the change would bring them.
Question 3
Schultz faced many challenges when trying to implement the supply chain project
at Vodafone. To achieve the objective of multiplying the global procurement process
at Vodafone, Mr. Schultz built up a supply chain management team made of between
30 to 170 team members. Some team members work at the head office while others
are localized at different procurement sites across 24 countries. External stakeholders
are very critical in determining the long term success of a business. External
stakeholders of Vodafone include customers, creditors, vendors, local communities,
partners, government regulators, consultants, trade unions as well as citizen action
groups. The SCM could, therefore, play an important role in helping Mr. Schultz
solve challenges that he may face while implementing the project.
The SCM team can influence customers by working hard to ensure that the
products and services they require are offered at the right time, right quantity and
place. The whole idea behind supply chain is ensuring that customers ready get any
product that they need. Vodafone is a global telecommunications company, therefore,
must ensure that customers in the countries in which it operates can get products that
they require conveniently. This may involve engaging the vendors to ensure that they
are always stocked with all the companies’ products. The team can also influence

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customers by ensuring efficiency which can result in cheaper products and hence the
price of the final product can reduce.
The SCM team can help Mr. Schultz in problem solving by ensuring that the
business complies with all regulations put by the states in which it operates. The
localized teams have to coordinate with the headquarters to solve any challenges
regarding government regulations. It may involve matters such as competition laws,
consumer protection, health & safety as well as taxation.
To help Mr. Schultz in solving problems experienced during the implementation
of the project, the SCM team needs to influence the local community. Any challenges
that may arise with the local communities affected by the changes in the supply chain
can be solved by the SCM team engaging them community and help them to
understand the importance of the changes and how the change may impact on them
positively. The team should positively engage the local community to help the team
achieve the goal of streamlining its global supply chain.
The SCM team also plays a very significant role in engaging the various
Vodafone partners in different countries. Vodafone has very many partners who
support the companies supply chain globally. Some of the partners include logistics
partners and vendor. The SCM teams have to resolve the challenges faced by the
partners in their respective countries. Vodafone depends on Logistics Company to
move products from the manufacturing point until the final consumer. For the
products to reach the consumers at the right time and place there has to be proper
coordination between the partners and the supply chain management team. Any
challenges that they cannot handle should be reported to Mr. Schultz who can
intervene to ensure that everything becomes successful. The teams have to influence

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the vendors to purchase all Vodafone's products and to sell them at recommended
prices. This eventually contributes to efficiency in Vodafone`s global supply chain.
Question four
It is very critical for Mr. Schultz to manage change effectively at Vodafone to
become successful in implementing a new supply chain network. This is because
change may face resistance from different quarters depending on the approach used
by the leader to introduce the change. To for organizational change to be successful, it
is important that a leader applies a variety of change management models to ensure
that the organization can attain its goal of implementing the change. The following are
some of the change management models that could have been used by Mr. Schultz;
Lewin`s change management model- this is one of the most popular models of
managing change by the organization. The model splits change into three stages,
namely; Unfreeze, make changes and refreeze (Benn, Edwards and Williams, 2018.)
Unfreezing involves studying to understand how things are currently done. Every step
of human interaction is identified. This is done to eliminate bias and understanding
exactly what needs to change to avoid making mistakes. The change step involves
implementing the desired. Support, effective communication, and coaching are very
crucial in this step. Training helps in helping the team members to understand new
aspects of their job so that they can implement them perfectly. The refreezing step
involves carrying out regular checks to ensure that the new methods are being
implemented to ensure that they stick to become a model and part of the
organizational culture.
Another method which is critical to Mr. Schultz when implementing change at
Vodafone is the McKinsey 7-S model. This model involves analyzing the following

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aspects of the organization to give weight to aspects that need change the most. They
include;
Strategy- this involves reviewing the objectives of the organization and
identifying changes that can be made to the goals. This step also involves identifying
the technique to be used to achieving the objective.
Structure- Mr. Schultz should analyze the structure of Vodafone supply chain and
identify the changes that need to be made to achieve the goal of the intended change.
Systems-Rules, policies, and procedures of the Vodafone supply chain should be
analyzed. This will help Mr. Schultz to identify gaps that can be filled to improve the
supply chain to the desired levels.
Shared values- It is important to ensure that every member of the team
understands, believes and acts according to the common values of the organization.
The change management process at Vodafone needs to be in line with the values and
culture of the organization. Change which is not aligned to the values of the
organization is bound to fail.
Style-This step is about assessing the leadership and management style used by
the organization. It is crucial for Mr. Schultz not to idealize his view of leadership but
to remain practical and logical in how he manages his team. He also needs to assess
the leadership style of the team leaders to ensure it inspires teamwork.
Staff- When implementing change, Mr. Schultz needs to assess the skills and
knowledge of the staff who are working with him. This allows them to understand the
strengths and weaknesses of team members so that he can leverage the strengths and

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improve them to reduce their weaknesses. The leader can then be able to assemble a
talented team which shares in his vision for the intended change.
Conclusion
The objective of this is to analyze the case study of Vodafone supply chain model
and understand how leadership and management styles have an impact on an
organization. The paper identifies the leadership style used by Mr. Schultz which was
critical in transforming the supply chain of Vodafone. Mr. Schultz possessed
characteristics such as the ability to make difficult choices, teamwork, ability to
motivate and inspire and well as leading by example. The paper also discusses ways
in which Mr. Schultz can influence key stakeholders within Vodafone.According to
the stakeholder economy theory, a stakeholder is anyone who has invested and who is
affected by the activities of the organization (Giltinane, 2013. ). The stakeholders of
Vodafone involves; employees, environmentalists, government agencies, suppliers,
creditors, and investors. An organization should strive to satisfy all stakeholders for it
to be defined as being successful. There are various styles that Schultz can use to
influence multiple shareholders of Vodafone. They include;leading by example,
building trust, involving them in decision making processes,being persuasive and
avoiding use of force as well as inspiring confidence.
Additionally, the article discusses the strategies that the SCM team could use to
influence external stakeholders to aid Schultz in decision making. The stratregies
change depending on the type of stakeholder that the group is dealing with. The
primary role of SCM team is assisting Mr Schulz to solve any supply chain challenges
that may arise in their respective territories. The change management models that
could help Schultz manage change at Vodafone are the Lewin change model and

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McKinsey 7 S model. The models helps in evaluating and measuring the impact that a
change has had on an organization.
References
Benn, S., Edwards, M. and Williams, T., 2018. Organizational change for corporate
sustainability. Routledge.
Du, S., Swaen, V., Lindgreen, A. and Sen, S., 2013. The roles of leadership styles in
corporate social responsibility. Journal of business ethics, 114(1), pp.155-169.
Giltinane, C.L., 2013. Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard, 27(41).
Jones, G.R., 2013. Organizational theory, design, and change. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson,