Leadership and Management Analysis: Oliver Design Solutions Case Study

This case study analyzes Oliver Design Solutions, a company facing financial decline and insufficient new clients. The report examines the company's organizational structure, identifying it as functional, and explores various leadership and management theories, including Great Man, Trait, Contingency, and Scientific Management. It assesses motivational theories like System Management and identifies key issues such as declining income. Strategic tools like SWOT analysis are suggested to address these challenges. The report analyzes ethical and legal considerations, as well as health and safety aspects, and provides a critical analysis of the company's restructuring options. The report recommends restructuring the organization to improve communication and implement suitable leadership and management theories to resolve the financial issues and improve overall business performance. The analysis covers the application of Handy's model of organizational culture and emphasizes the importance of adapting leadership styles to specific business situations.

THE CASE STUDY

Executive Summary
The report is been based on the Oliver Design Solutions and there are various issues and
challenges being identified in the report. The report has been prepared on the information from
the provided case study. Report has briefly explained about the various leadership and
management theories. The Oliver Design aims at refocusing on the business and restructuring the
business that can help in resolving the current issues being faced by the company. Company is
currently facing financial issues and there are insufficient clients with the company.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Type of organizational structure and can culture be inferred from the organizational structure.
................................................................................................................................................1
Leadership theories, management theories and organizational culture..................................2
What theories or models can be applied in support of evidence............................................4
What motivational theories can be applied to this case study and why?................................4
Issues identified and evidence that exist in the case study.....................................................4
Strategic tools the company is using or may use to solve the issues......................................4
Any ethical or legal issues which arising from the case study...............................................5
Any health and safety issues identified in the case study?.....................................................5
Critical analysis of 3 options presented by the company.......................................................5
Recommendations & Conclusion....................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Nature of scope of case study includes brief description about the Oliver Design
Solutions company that is currently facing decline in income and facing falling profits and
revenue. The case study is about and is based on the Oliver Design and Graphical Solutions
company. The heads of the company are David and Graham, and they appointed a Finance
Directors Martin in the year 2001, and he is now the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. Oliver Design and Graphical Solutions operates in the
graphical design sector or industry (Industry Overview: Graphic Design, 2017). It was
established in the year 1989 and there are total 19 employees working in the company and one
Administrator/ Receptionist.
Oliver Design and Graphical Solutions offers wide range of products or services
including graphic designs, branding solutions, newsletter or brochure designing, logo design,
print production, web design, visual identity, multimedia presentations, marketing collateral,
indoor and outdoor signage and many more (Oliver Design Solutions, 2019). The business of
Design Solutions is based in the leasehold premises and is situated in a high-value commercial
district of the Birmingham. Turnover of the company is approximately £1 million per annum but,
the company is being facing financial issues due to decline in income. Currently there are no
sufficient new clients that can make up the financial shortfall for the Oliver Design Solutions.
MAIN BODY
Type of organizational structure and can culture be inferred from the organizational structure.
Organizational structure refers to the system which outlines how various activities are
being directed in order to accomplish the goals and objectives of company. According to the
given case study, functional structure exists in the Oliver Design Solutions company (Types of
Organizational Structures, 2019). This organizational structure leads to divide the organization
into smaller groups having specific roles and tasks. For example, company can divide group of
people such as some people working in finance department, some in marketing and some in
information technology.
The main advantage of the functional structure is that employees and staff are grouped
according to their set of functions and skills which allows them to focus on their collective
energies and execute given tasks and roles accordingly (Elsmore, 2017). But, functional structure
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may face issues in form of lack of inter-departmental communications and this may lead to
create problems and challenges for overall organization. For example, different departments are
working on the same project may have different expectations regarding the particular job and
lack of communications can lead to create major issues.
The culture of the organization is greatly inferred by the structure of organization.
Organizational structure directly influences and affects the culture as because of the placement of
employees within the company's structure and it affects how people interact with each other.
Leadership theories, management theories and organizational culture.
Leadership Theory:
There are various types of leadership theories that can be applied to the company such as
Great Man, Trait, Contingency, Situational and Behavioural.
 The Great Man theory describes that leaders have right set of traits, skills and the
ability for leading is inherent. These skills and trait allows them for leading effectively
(Leadership Theories, 2019).
 Trait Theory describes that individual needs to possess various personality traits for
being successful and effective leaders. The identified leadership characteristics are
usually compared with the potential leaders for determining their likelihood of effectively
leading.
 Contingency Theory puts emphasis on particular setting which determines leadership
style us best suited with said organizational situation. The contingency theory can be
applied by the Oliver Design Solutions so that leaders can change their leadership style
according to the business situations.
 Situational Theory proposes that no leadership style can supersede others. Oliver Design
can implement this theory as this implies that leadership styles depends on the situations
at hand (Foust, 2017).
 Behavioural theory puts focus on specific actions and behaviours of leadership instead
of their characteristics and traits. Oliver design can apply this theory as it suggests that
effective leadership is the outcome and results of various learned skills.
Management Theory:
 Scientific Management Theory emphasized that forcing people for working hard is not
the best method for optimizing the results. This theory can be applied by the Oliver
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Designs as it recommends that managers needs to focus on simplifying tasks for
increasing the productivity.
 Bureaucratic Management Theory puts great emphasis on clearly designated roles for
the management and employees based on the hierarchies. This streamlines authority and
also makes it clear who is in charge and who is not (Four Types of Management Theory,
2019).
 Human Relations Theory puts emphasis on importance of the alignment of needs of
employees with the organization's need and accordingly adopts policy that aim at mutual
benefits. This theory can be applied by Oliver Design this theory is human-centred and it
can help in bringing out the best potential of the employees.
 System Theory puts emphasis on looking for the holistic patterns in the metaphysical
and scientific contexts and it aims for accomplishing balanced and integrated whole in
the company.
Organizational culture:
Organizational culture can be defined as the underlying assumptions, values, beliefs and
way of interacting and which leads to contribute to unique psychological and social environment
of the company. Handy's model of organizational culture can be applied to the Oliver Design
Solutions and it is explained as follows:
 Role Culture is considered as highly job-oriented and in this type of culture, employees
want more stability and security. This organizational culture is known for its obligations,
procedure, rules and agreements.
 Task Culture are job or result-oriented and teams are formed for achieving the targeted
goals or for solving critical issues. Employees with the task culture are focused on
completing their tasks and accomplishing targets.
 Person Culture is a people-oriented culture that allows complete independence to the
employees. Organizations with person culture have few rules, obligations and procedures
and Oliver Design can implement this culture when the employees are experts and
talented.
 Power Culture is characterized by having power and authority in the hands of few
people (Karolyi, 2016). Only authorized people are the one taking decisions and from the
case study it can be seen that this culture is applied in the Oliver Design.
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What theories or models can be applied in support of evidence.
Oliver Design and Graphic Solutions can focus on implementation of Contingency
Theory as this theory believes that best style and form of leadership is the one that can find
perfect balance between needs, behaviours and context of business. The effective leaders possess
right traits and qualities and are also able for evaluating the needs of the employees and also the
situation at hand (Amanchukwu, Stanley and Ololube, 2015). This theory needs to be adopted
and implemented by Oliver Design because this theory focuses on task requirements,
expectations and behaviours of peers and also on the culture and polices of organization. And
leaders are more likely for expressing their leadership when they feel their followers will be
responsive in effective way. Therefore, resulting in achieving overall targeted goals and
objectives.
What motivational theories can be applied to this case study and why?
Oliver Design need to focus on implementing the system management theory as it puts
emphasis on planning and management of the business. This theory describes that success of
business depends on various key elements such as interdependence, synergy and interrelationship
between subsystems (Maduenyi and et.al., 2015). Other elements that are important to the
success of business are work-groups, business units and departments. Therefore, by applying the
system theory, managers can collaborate on various programs rather than isolated units and
achieve overall goals and objectives of the company.
Issues identified and evidence that exist in the case study.
In the case study, financial projections from the partner's is showing a continuing decline
in the income level from the existing clients. This is to the point where business will not be
profitable in current financial year (Nawaz and Khan_ PhD, 2016). The another issues identified
from the case study is that there are insufficient new clients that can make up for the shortfall in
the profits.
Strategic tools the company is using or may use to solve the issues.
Oliver design can make use of various available strategic tools for solving the issues. The
company may make use of SWOT analysis for identifying the current strengths and weakness of
company. The SWOT analysis also helps in identification of future opportunities and threats and
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get prepared for it in advance. Other strategic tools that can be used by company are Porter's
Value Chain model, PESTLE analysis, and even Porter's Five Forces model.
Any ethical or legal issues which arising from the case study.
There were no legal and ethical issues arisen in the given case study. But, the business
need to have good understanding for the relevant laws which applies to this industry (Ponterotto,
2017). The legal priorities for Oliver Design and Graphic Solutions include:
 Protecting the work from getting exploited,
 Ensuring that company is fairly compensated for the work,
 Avoiding the accidental violation of legislations.
Any health and safety issues identified in the case study?
There are no health and safety issues were being identified in the given case study. But,
Olive Design needs to focus on complying with and adhering to various health and safety
legislations and regulations. This will lead to make employees feel safe and secure at workplace,
and they will focus on putting extra efforts in the operations. This will further help in resolving
the key issues being faced by the company.
Critical analysis of 3 options presented by the company.
Oliver Design should focus on restructuring the organization to effectively manage the
interactions between various levels of management (Rosenberg Hansen and Ferlie, 2016). The
focus of company should be on implementing best suited leadership and management theories.
The another option that is available for company to resolve the issue faced is implementing
various legal requirements governing the engineering activities in terms of sustainability, ethical
and health and safety considerations.
Recommendations & Conclusion
The present report is based on the Oliver Design and Graphic Solution which is facing
some financial issues and plans for refocusing the business and restructuring the company.
Report has explained about various management and leadership theories and best one is being
also chosen for the company to implement and gain the best outcomes.
Oliver Design Solution should focus on restructuring the business so that it can resolve its
issues and challenges. The issue that is faced by company is the decline in income and profits.
Restructuring the organization can help in managing the flow of information between the
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different levels of company and maintain effective interactions. Oliver Designs should focus on
implementing Flatarchy structure and it leads to flatten the chain of commands and hierarchy,
and provides employees a lot of autonomy. Through the Flatarchy structure company can operate
within existing functional structure but employees are also encouraged for suggesting ideas and
run with them effectively, and this potentially creates new flat teams.
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References
Books and Journal
Amanchukwu, R.N., Stanley, G.J. and Ololube, N.P., 2015. A review of leadership theories,
principles and styles and their relevance to educational management. Management. 5(1).
pp.6-14.
Elsmore, P., 2017. Organisational Culture: Organisational Change?: Organisational Change?.
Routledge.
Foust, J., 2017. Online journalism: principles and practices of news for the Web. Taylor &
Francis.
Karolyi, G.A., 2016. The gravity of culture for finance. Journal of Corporate Finance. 41.
pp.610-625.
Maduenyi, S. and et.al., 2015. Impact of Organisational structure on Organisational performance.
Nawaz, Z.A.K.D.A. and Khan_ PhD, I., 2016. Leadership theories and styles: A literature
review. Leadership. 16. pp.1-7.
Ponterotto, J.G., 2017. Ethical and legal considerations in psychobiography. American
Psychologist. 72(5). p.446.
Rosenberg Hansen, J. and Ferlie, E., 2016. Applying strategic management theories in public
sector organizations: Developing a Typology. Public Management Review. 18(1). pp.1-
19.
Online
Four Types of Management Theory. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://bizfluent.com/info-8375509-four-types-management-theory.html>
Industry Overview: Graphic Design. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://sba.ubc.ca/blog/industry-overview-graphic-design>
Leadership Theories. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/soft-skills/leadership-theories/>
Oliver Design Solutions. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.oliverdesignsolutions.com/about>
Types of Organizational Structures. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://online.pointpark.edu/business/types-of-organizational-structures/>
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