BUSN20016: Research Report - Leadership and Wesfarmers Performance

This report investigates the impact of leadership on the organizational performance of Wesfarmers, an Australian conglomerate. The problem statement highlights the need for effective leadership to improve productivity and profitability within the company. The report aims to analyze the influence of leadership on Wesfarmers' overall performance in the Australian market, with objectives including identifying key leadership factors, examining the benefits of leadership, and assessing its effects on profitability. The literature review emphasizes the importance of leadership in enhancing business performance, citing the need for leaders to motivate employees and maintain stakeholder balance. The methodology section describes the use of a qualitative study, with data collection focusing on author observations and deductive data analysis to draw conclusions. The report references key studies on leadership and organizational performance, providing a comprehensive analysis of the topic. This assignment is contributed by a student and is available on Desklib, a platform for students to access AI-based study tools and resources, including past papers and solved assignments.

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Research in business
Topic: Impact of leadership on the organizational performance (a case study of
Wesfarmers)

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1. Problem Statement
The leadership is one of the effective factors included in the organization and it improves the
different process of organization and affects the organizational performance. Leadership gives a
direct effect on the performance of an organization (Hurduzeu, 2015). Wesfarmers need the best
leadership to improve their productivity and profitability. The problem statement of this research
is to determine the effect of leadership in managing the performance of the business of
Wesfarmers. Wesfarmers is an Australian conglomerate works in chemicals, fertilizers and
safety products. The company need proper leadership to improve the performance of the
organization in the Australian business. The organization faces a lack of leadership and this
decreases the productivity of the organization and this becomes a major problem for the
business.

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2. Aims and Objectives
This proposal aims to analyse the impact of leadership in improving the overall performance
of Wesfarmers in the Australian business market. As the leadership analysis is included in this
proposal.
The objectives of the proposal include:
 Determine the leading factors in the organization
 Examine the benefits of leadership in the business
 To analyse the effects of leadership in Wesfarmers
 To analyse the impact of leadership in the profitability of the organization

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3. Literature Review
According to the Soebbing, et al., (2015), leadership is one of the important factors faced by
the organization in improving its performance in the business market. The use of leadership
skills is too important in the organization and these skills increase the overall performance in the
market. Leaders are the persons who influence the employees to do better actions and increasing
the performance of a business. Wesfarmers needs proper leadership to improve the performance
of a business in an Australian market. Wesfarmers faces different issues in the business due to
the lack of leadership in the business functions and activities.
As per the views of Saleem, (2015), the monitor of your team is one of the main processes of
the leader that used for increasing the performance of an organization. The leadership is one of
the main processes that increase the profits of the Wesfarmers in the market and also improves
customer attraction. It is important for the business to manage the balance between the
stakeholders and employees. This process can be maintained by the leaders of an organization.
The productivity is greatly affected by the use of proper leadership in the organization as it
increases and it also creates several benefits for the business. Leadership is the process that
influences others to work towards the achievement of organizational goals and it increases the
various good effects on the business.
The employees become more aware of the achievement of an organizational goal. It is the act
of motivating people for the attainment of proper objectives. Wesfarmers improve several
aspects and activities by adopting the leadership in the business functions. Lack of job
satisfaction among employees create less productivity in Wesfarmers and this decreases the
profitability of an organization. So, to improve these processes, the organization adopt the best
leaders that motivate the employees and increase the satisfaction of the employees regarding the
job (Koohang, et al., 2017). The leadership maintains the teamwork in the business and the
concept of teamwork improves the business in a different manner.

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4. Methodology
The methodology is one of the essential parts of the proposal as it provides different methods
to do the research project in a successful manner. The different methodologies are used in the
research to determine the information regarding the specific topic of the project. In this proposal,
the qualitative study is used which gives brief information regarding the topic. The qualitative
research is too effective in the research as it includes the different views and observations of the
different authors (Taylor, et al., 2015). The methodologies include the process of data collection
to attain the data related to the impact of leadership in Wesfarmers.
The observations of the authors are treated as essential data for the research study as it gives
important information relates to the impact of the leadership in the working process of
Wesfarmers. After collecting the data, the data analysis is also important which can be done by
using the different approaches like inductive or deductive (Flick, 2015). As to analyse the
qualitative data the deductive approach is used that defines several acts and procedures and
reasoning the statements to reach the conclusion. As the deductive approach is concerned with
the developing of hypothesis in the overall study.

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References
Flick, U. (2015). Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Hurduzeu, R. E. (2015). The impact of leadership on organizational performance. SEA–Practical
Application of Science, 3(07), 289-293.
Koohang, A., Paliszkiewicz, J., & Goluchowski, J. (2017). The impact of leadership on trust,
knowledge management, and organizational performance. Industrial Management &
Data Systems.
Saleem, H. (2015). The impact of leadership styles on job satisfaction and mediating role of
perceived organizational politics. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172(27),
563-569.
Soebbing, B. P., Wicker, P., & Weimar, D. (2015). The impact of leadership changes on
expectations of organizational performance. Journal of Sport Management, 29(5), 485-
497.
Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R., & DeVault, M. (2015). Introduction to qualitative research methods:
A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.