People in Organisations: Phoenix Group Leadership and Team Dynamics

This report examines the leadership strategies, organizational structure, and culture of the Phoenix Group, a major UK retirement business. It analyzes the roles of leaders like CEO Andy Briggs in driving company success, emphasizing their influence in guiding employees and adapting to industry ch...Read More

PEOPLE IN
ORGANISTIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
1. Structure, Culture and Leadership...........................................................................................3
2. Building effective teams through motivation by identifying team development attributes....7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
The people in organisations play a very important role in its rapid success and growth. The
people can be the directors, supervisors, managers and even the employees. All the people have
their different roles and responsibilities. There is no management in any company without the
people and management refers to get the things dine through the people working in the company.
The employees must co-ordinate with each other in order to get the results as it is impossible for
an individual to achieve the organisational goals (Phillips and et.al., 2018).
The “Phoenix group” is the largest retirement business and long term savings in UK. It is
also considered as the largest consolidator of pension funds and closed like in Europe. It
performs its operations in countries like Germany, UK and Ireland and also it is divided into
three segments which are referred as UK open, UK Heritage and Europe. The company is
considered as the leader in the efficient and safe management of heritage business of UK It deals
in the products which are not much marketed actively to the customers (Phoenix group, 2021).
The company focuses on protecting the existing assets, driving efficiencies and optimising sales.
This helps the company in increasing its value in the business.
The report will shed light on the role played by the leaders in the Phoenix group. It will be
followed by mentioning the ways in which the culture and structure of the organisations supports
the transitional change and also focus on its effective implementation. The report will also shed
light on the ways which helps in building teams through motivation. It will also highlight the
ways which are adapted by The Phoenix Group. It will be followed by identifying the attributes
of team development which contributes in the success of the organisations.
MAIN BODY
1. Structure, Culture and Leadership
Leaders play the most significant role in the success and effective management of the
organisations. The main purpose of the Phoenix group is to help the people such that they can
secure a life in which many possibilities are there. The vision of the group is growing a
sustainable and strong business which helps the people to their retirement journey. This helps the
company for improving the outcomes for the customers and also helps in delivering value for
shareholders. There are many people in the Phoenix group who plays the role of the leaders
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among which one is Andy Briggs who is the CEO of the company. Briggs is also the biggest
reason for the success of the companies as he has the experience of leadership for more than 30
years. The main role played by the leaders of the company is inspiring, influencing and guiding
others for participating in the common effort (Mukerjee, 2017).
The Phoenix Group has a clear strategy which focuses on the major three priorities which
includes the deepening of the relationships of the customers, acquisition of the customers and the
in-force business optimization (Sinha and et.al., 2020.). The leaders of the company helps in
taking the advantage of the drivers of change in the industry i.e., strong growth of the auto-
enrolment workplace, consolidation of insurers, de-risking of corporate and retiring of the
individuals (Sobre-Denton, 2017). This helps in changing the needs of the customers, managing
the capital position, putting sustainability at the heart of the business, creating the value and
delivering the cash generation along with inspiring the employees (Phoenix group holdings,
2021).
The organisational structure of Phoenix group helps in defining the function, role and objectives
of the Board of Directors, Chairperson, Board committees and the Chief Executive Officer. It
also contributes by setting the ways in which the company and its various players interact for
promoting transparent, efficient and ethical functioning and the processes of decision-making
with the company (Cortellazzo, Bruni and Zampieri, 2019). The structure of the company clearly
identifies that the leadership is the main thing which is focussed in the company.
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Figure 1: Organisational structure of Phoenix group.
Sources: Company’s General organisation structure, 2020
The hierarchy shown in the structure of the organisation examines that the decision if passed
from the higher level to the lower one then to the final one. This clearly identified that if any
transitional change is taking place in the company Phoenix group, then the information can be
easily conveyed from the top level to the lowest level which means from the Board of directors
to the different managers. The chairperson of the company provides the overall leadership along
with ensuring the Board’s smooth functioning. The chairperson also motivates each director to
participate in discussions which means the democratic leadership is followed here (Phoenix
group, 2021). The non-executive directors of Phoenix also challenge the executive directors and
the company’s management which means that transactional leadership is followed here. The
chief executive officer of the company also takes the responsibility of leading and directing the
senior management for implementing the strategies set by the board. The company secretary of
Phoenix also guides the Board of directors the duties but under the law along with listing rules
and disclosing the obligations. These all are the responsibilities and roles of the leaders which
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mean all the bodies of the company develop and implement the strategies of leadership which
helps each other to achieve personal as well as professional goals. This is why leadership can be
seen at every stage of the organisational structure with every person in the company. This means
that the organisational supports the leadership especially at the time of transitional change
(Cortellazzo, Bruni & Zampieri, 2019).
The transition of the company is towards making a net zero commitment which means the
company realized the need to reduce the emissions of the greenhouse gas (GHG) which can help
in accelerating the transitions to the economy of low carbon. The sustainability agenda of the
company is to reduce the environmental impact which makes the sustainability as its purpose.
The transitional change can be seen in the company as there are targets of the net-zero carbon in
mainly two areas of Phoenix which is operations and the investment portfolio.
In the area of the operations, the aims at reducing the emission of the carbon which divides it
into two scopes in which 1 and 2 are for net-zero carbon in the occupied premises and 3 is for the
net-zero carbon in the business travel by 2025. The company also strived hard and set the target
for the net-zero in the investment portfolio by 2050 (Picard and et.al., 2017). These targets were
set just because of the confidence and determination of the leaders towards the company.
The leaders which are the major bodies of the company decided to invest in those assets which
can be proved to be supporting the transition to low carbon economy along with using the grand
position of the company as the most significant asset owner for engaging with investee
companies. This shows that all the decisions in the company are taken by mutual understanding
among the leaders and the hierarchy of the company. The leaders of the company made the
commitment together which was core to the agenda of the sustainability. Through this, the
company can be considered as the provider which will help it to achieve the target as well as help
the company at the time of pension investments. This will not only facilitate the customers but
also the trustees, clients and the advisers. The company can also face various risks of
sustainability but when the leaders are together and the information is conveyed through a
systematic hierarchical manner then all the risks can be mitigated. The leaders of Phoenix show
their leadership responsibilities especially at the time of transitional change (Phoenix
Management, 2021).
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The culture of Phoenix group also supports this transitional change as the business is family
business and the whole culture is committed to sustainability which can help the company to
increase its value to the shareholders. The company focuses on the sustainable growth which can
only be achieved when the leaders of the company strive hard for the further development. The
culture of the company is more focussed on the employees as it considered its employees as the
basis of its success. The employees of phoenix are quite educated in all the areas which do not
only develop the employee individually but also helps in developing the group as a whole. The
culture of the company states that Think together global – act local! This is implemented in all
the processes of the company by ensuring the constructive cooperation across the national
borders and beyond it which can help in gaining the competitive advantage among its
competitors. The culture of the company is learning in which all the employees learn from each
other at every stage which also helps in promoting the interdisciplinary thinking (Fink, 2019).
The company also motivates the employees to work in groups so that they can teach each other
the ways which can help in fulfilling the mission of the company. The transitional change of the
company which is to make the company net-zero till 2025 was supported by the culture of the
organisation as it always motivates the employees and the leaders of the company to make use of
the sustainable practices which do not lead to emission of larger carbon. The company is the
market leader which believes that they play a major role in the communities and the society by
helping the people for securing a life full of possibilities. This is how; the leadership plays a very
significant role in Phoenix and the structure and culture of the company supports the transitional
change.
2. Building effective teams through motivation by identifying team development attributes
Team is basically a group of people working together and collaborate in the specific tasks
in order to achieve a common goal. The tasks are difficult to be done when done by individuals
so the teams play an important role in accomplishing the tasks and for this the team members
must have certain skills to work effectively with others. The team as a whole helps in building
the success of the team but the individuals also contribute towards the team greatly (Andrejczuk
and et.al., 2018).
The teams in the organisations like Phoenix must be effective for accomplishing the goals
which helps in meeting the standards which are set by the people who evaluates the performance.
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The effective teams have certain characteristics like good communication, shared leadership,
positive group dynamics, accountability and commitment, positive role in conflict, shared values,
inspiring vision, mutual trust, rewards and combined abilities, talents or skills. Effective
teamwork needs the people to work as a cohesive unit. Phoenix group also ensure that the teams
in the company have these characteristics which can help the individuals in collaborating with
others through focussing their efforts in a common direction thereby achieving the organisational
goals and outcomes. The main role of team in the company is combining the resources, skills,
competencies and the bandwidth for achieving the objectives of Phoenix group. This is observed
that the output gained by the team is much greater than the sum of the contribution of each
individual (Gren, Torkar and Feldt, 2017).
In order to develop the effective teams, it is important for the employees to be motivated. This is
because motivation leads to commitment and commitment leads to satisfaction. This helps in
increasing the learning and development which leads to success of organisation. When the teams
are motivated then they strive hard to put in more efforts, time and work for achieving team and
organisational goals. It is important to make the teams motivated for increasing the productivity
as to improve the overall culture of the organisation (Maduka and et.al., 2018). Phoenix group
also considers motivation as the most important factor which helps in the personal and
professional development of the employees as well as profitability of the company. There are
various ways in which the employees and the teams can be motivated at the workplace. Various
motivational theories are used for the same such as content and process theories. The content
theories on one hand focus on the needs of the employees and while the process theories lay
emphasis on the ways and the process of motivating the employees. There are various content as
well as process theories in which the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is the well-known and
effective content theory which helps in motivating the individuals and teams. This theory of
motivation is presented in the form of hierarchy of five layers where all the layers represent
different types of needs. It is in the shape of a pyramid in which the layer at the bottom consists
of basic needs and at the top consists of the higher level needs (Crandall and et.al., 2020).
Psychological needs: These needs include food, water, clothing, shelter, health, sufficient rest
and reproduction. Phoenix group also ensures that these basic needs of employees are fulfilled.
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Safety needs: These needs include emotional stability, health security and well-being, protection
from theft and violence, financial security. The Phoenix group provides all the possible securities
and safety to the employees.
Love and belonging needs: These are related to the human interaction which includes family
bonds and friendships, bond with biological family such as siblings, parents, children and the
chosen family such as partners and spouses. The company ensures that there is a sense of
belonging among the co-workers and various social groups are developed for meeting these
needs.
Self-esteem needs: These are the ego-driven needs in which the major element is the self respect
and self-esteem. Phoenix group ensures that the self esteem needs of the employees are fulfilled
with respect to others and themselves also.
Self-actualization needs: These deals in fulfilling the self potential as an individual. These
include skill development, education, care for others, learning new language, travelling and
many more (Hopper, 2019). The company Phoenix group provide many opportunities to the
employees so that they can realize their own potential.
For building effective teams through motivation, Phoenix Group makes use of the Tuckman’s
model of team development where each stage plays a very important role in developing of
high-functioning team. It was developed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965 which says that the team
development can be effectively done in five stages which are forming, storming, norming,
performing and adjourning (Pfutzenreuter, de Lima and Frega, 2020).
Forming: This is the first stage in developing skills which is like the orientation. This is the
stage where the new things are going to happen and the team members wish to know about the
other members of team. The various things are discussed such as the skills, interests and
background of members, timeline, project goals, individual and ground rules. The productivity is
not increased much at this stage as the main focus is on the employees rather than the work.
Storming: This is the stage where on the team members get to know the reality about the other
members and the initial feelings are worn off. Various conflicts also happen at this stage because
of the clashing between individuals having different personalities. Some organisations skip this
stage as they do not want to face the conflicts. But the Phoenix group do not skip this stage as it
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considers skipping as growing the problems so the company prefers recognising conflicts and
resolving them.
Norming: In this stage, people start noticing and appreciating the strengths of the team members.
Every member in the group contributes and works as a cohesive unit. The members make use of
their abilities and skills for contributing in the success of the group. Though, there can be some
conflicts faced by Phoenix group do not much major conflicts here because it resolved the
conflicts in the storming age already.
Performing: When the team development reaches this stage, the members become confident,
familiar and motivated with the task. Every member in the group strives hard and gives their best
to achieve the team as well as organisational goals. If the team is to be effective, it does not fail
here and do not become afraid of the conflicts (Ford, Piccolo and Ford, 2017). The team which
fails here cannot be considered as an effective team.
Adjourning: This stage is the additional stage which was added by Tuckman later. This plays the
role when the task ends or it is the time for the team to disband. The employees of Phoenix get
attached to each other so they feel as loss as the experience has ended and they all had grown so
close. So, this stage does not have a mere role in the team development but the relations made
among the members can be used in the future works as well.
This is how, Phoenix Group makes use of all the attributes of the team such as clear vision,
inspiring leaders, cooperation among the team members, constructive communication among the
members along with the appreciation by the team leader or the coach. By using all these the
company is facing rapid success.
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CONCLUSION
The report mainly shed light on the role of leadership in the Phoenix group and the ways in
which the culture and structure of the organisation supports the transitional change. The above
report also focussed on building effective teams in the organisation. It shed light on the Tuckman
theory for developing the effective teams. It also highlighted the ways in which effective teams
can be made through motivation. The Tuckman theory was used in order to develop the teams
effectively and to contribute in achieving the organisational goals. The motivational theory
including the content theory was also used to evaluate the way in which the employees can
become motivated and can be able to communicate effectively as a team.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Andrejczuk, E. and et.al., 2018. The composition and formation of effective teams: computer
science meets organizational psychology. The Knowledge Engineering Review. 33.
Cortellazzo, L., Bruni, E. and Zampieri, R., 2019. The role of leadership in a digitalized world: A
review. Frontiers in psychology. 10. p.1938.
Crandall, A. and et.al., 2020. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a framework for understanding
adolescent depressive symptoms over time. Journal of Child and Family Studies. 29(2).
pp.273-281.
Fink, J.H., 2019. Contrasting governance learning processes of climate-leading and-lagging
cities: Portland, Oregon, and Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Journal of Environmental Policy
& Planning. (21(1) pp.16-29.
Ford, R.C., Piccolo, R.F. and Ford, L.R., 2017. Strategies for building effective virtual teams:
Trust is key. Business Horizons. 60(1). pp.25-34.
Gren, L., Torkar, R. and Feldt, R., 2017. Group development and group maturity when building
agile teams: A qualitative and quantitative investigation at eight large
companies. Journal of Systems and Software. 124. pp.104-119.
Hopper, E., 2019. Maslow's hierarchy of needs explained. Viitattu. 12. p.2019.
Maduka, N.S. and et.al., 2018. Analysis of competencies for effective virtual team leadership in
building successful organisations. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
Mukerjee, K., 2017. Rise like a Phoenix-Scripting Corporate Turnarounds. Prajnan. 46(3)
pp.291-293.
Pfutzenreuter, T.C., de Lima, E.P. and Frega, J.R., 2020. Building High Performance Teams (No.
4712). EasyChair.
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Phillips, C. and et.al., 2018. Transforming leaders into stewards of teaching excellence: building
and sustaining an academic culture through leadership immersion. Contemporary Issues
in Education Research (CIER). 11(1). pp.1-10.
Picard, A. and et.al., 2017. Like a Phoenix: The Renaissance of Sephardic/Mizrahi Identity in
Israel in the 1970s and 1980s. Israel Studies, 22(2), pp.1-25.
Sinha, P.N. and et.al., 2020. Managing history: How New Zealand's Gallagher Group used
rhetorical narratives to reprioritize and modify imprinted strategic guideposts. Strategic
Management Journal, 41(3), pp.557-589.
Sobre-Denton, M., 2017. Multicultural third culture building:: A case study of a multicultural
social support group. Journal of Intercultural Communication. (45).
Online
Company’s General organisation structure, 2020. [ONLINE]. Available through :<
https://phoenixbev.mu/index.php/en/companys_general_organisation_structure-107>
Phoenix group holdings, 2021. [ONLINE]. Available through :<
https://www.thephoenixgroup.com/media/news/pr-2020.aspx>
Phoenix group, 2021. [ONLINE]. Available through :<
https://www.thephoenixgroup.com/about-us/our-purpose.aspx>
Phoenix Management, 2021. [ONLINE]. Available through :<
https://www.phoenixmanagement.com/organizational-structure/>
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