Leadership and Management Report: Tesco's Challenges and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management within Tesco, a major retail company. It begins with an introduction to leadership and management principles and then provides an overview of Tesco's leadership style, which is characterized by democratic principles. The report examines the key characteristics of Tesco as a Public Limited Company, including its financial transparency and potential advantages and disadvantages. It delves into the issues and challenges faced by Tesco, such as targeting the right customer base, the sluggish retail market, and lost overseas advantages. A critical evaluation of these challenges is presented, along with an assessment of their impact on the company. The report also includes psychometric tests to evaluate the skills and personality of the author. Finally, it offers recommendations for Tesco to address the identified challenges and improve its leadership and management practices, concluding with a summary of the key findings and insights.

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT.........................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
OVERVIEW....................................................................................................................................3
Leadership in Tesco...................................................................................................................3
Key characteristics.....................................................................................................................4
Issues and challenges.................................................................................................................4
Critical evaluation of issues and challenges............................................................................5
Impact of these challenges.........................................................................................................5
Psychometric tests……………………………………………………………………………..7
Recommendations....................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Leadership and management is related to any firm or an organisation where people deal with
different sectors of work and every work must be managed in a way according to the procedure
adopted. Leadership is everything when it comes to the organisation. there are works that are to
be lead by an individual who is responsible for administering the team (Diamond and Spillane,
2016). A leader or a manager is the one who take charge of the work or a task and involve the
members of the team to perform the action required. The sole responsibility of a leader is to
make note of the things that are to be handled and it is the duty of a leader to manage the
performance of the team. The report deals with the leadership management and the theories that
are involve in it. And how it applies to the organisation and benefits the firm.
OVERVIEW
Leadership and management is defined as a crucial part of the management. In an organisation or
a company, there are different types of managements. The leadership deals with the environment
of the workforce that are allotted to work for a particular theme. The management is further
divided into streams that are required for that particular organisation (Adams and Velarde, 2018).
The managers of the different sectors of management will process leadership trait which is to
lead the entire set of principles and responsibilities to keep a check on how the members or the
work force are involved in doing the works. Leaders must be able to manage the strategies by
implementations and their work towards the company must focus upon building the
sustainability. The chosen company for this report is Tesco. Tesco is a retailer which was
established in the year 1919 by Jack Cohen. This name has got a ridiculous history like when
Cohen purchased tea from the T.E. Stockwell he then decided to derive a name out of this. He
took the letters TES from the above stores and combined it with his first two letters of surname
and made it TESCO (Harris and Jones, 2018). What made Tesco one of the best retailers? Diving
deep into the Tesco leadership will leave everyone with the answers regarding the leadership.
Leadership in Tesco
The retailer employs a democratic leadership style which means that it gives its employees a
chance to raise their voice in decision making. The leadership in Tesco is such that it will
motivate the workforce with all aspects and changes and that will provide a good working
relationship in the company. the management allots certain people in every department of the
company to carry out the working modules (Elihami and Syarif, 2017). The managers of each

store in this company will involve in a weekly audit to discuss about the pros and cons and will
address the problems faced by their teams. This will help to resolve conflicts in no time and will
provide healthy environment.
Key characteristics
The major key characteristic of the company Tesco is that it is a Public Limited Company (PLC).
This means that anybody from the public can buy shares. The most important consideration is
that it has minimum liability (Amat and Manini, 2017). The Tesco’s financial statement is
displayed to the public and it can be known to everybody. This is rather an advantage because
investors can approach the company and carryout the deals in a more professional way. When
there is too much exposure to the public there will be scope for some disadvantages to arise.
These are to be sorted out by the management and the leaders that are allotted to all the firms of
the stores that are in the company. every manager must essentially maintain written records of
the finances and the data that is needed for employee statistics such that even when there are few
disadvantages arising in the company because of the exposure of the finances, then there will be
secondary written records to address the mistake or the fraud (Kanakaratne and et.al, 2020).
Issues and challenges
Tesco doesn’t know which shoppers to target: it is very important to determine the targets in
order to expand the company in the market. the company’s targets will determine the company’s
shares. The company Tesco right now is in a dilemma about its targets. It lies somewhere
between Sainsbury's and Waitrose and the discounters Aldi and Lidl. These discounts were
pressurising the UK super markets for bringing an immense change (Vijayan and Kamarulzaman
).
Retail market is sluggish: the retailing industry in UK has been facing a tough scenario. There is
a fluctuation in the sales and that is periodically decreasing since May and by the end of June it
has almost lost 30% of the total shares. The managers will have to come up with the plan of
increasing the shares with the target market which is rather a fragile thing to deal with.
Lost overseas advantage: Tesco saw a mere down fall in the overseas business. this is because
when it was decided to be launched in US, there was a haemorrhage in the fresh substitutes and
therefore it was not initiated.

Feedback: Tesco has many branches around the world and it is very hard for the management to
collect the needs of people and their requirements. For this the managers are responsible to
collect the required stuff and allot people to different sectors.
Improvements: There are certain improvements and modifications in every business or a retailer.
Continuous changes and alterations will be helpful in the company’s growth. Sometimes these
will also have negative impacts on the organisation. Tesco will have to improve its trade
overseas since majority of the issues and challenges are related with this. This is a mere
challenge because the environment everywhere is not the same and there is very less scope for
most exposed financial retailers to flourish (Walton and et.al, 2017). Therefore, the company will
have to develop the secrecy in the transactions.
Critical evaluation of issues and challenges
Not knowing which shoppers to target: Tesco is facing issues with regards to the targets as
mentioned earlier. There is no proper target about which company and organisations to target
and that left Tesco to hang in between Sainsbury's and Waitrose and the discounters Aldi and
Lidl. There has been different sayings from the critics regarding the discount issues some of
which stated that Clarke failed to discount the prices little earlier to compete with German
discounts (Franke and et.al, 2017).
Sluggish retail market: as mentioned earlier, the retail market of UK is a real tough sector to
handle. The situations are worsening based on the market competition and any small difference
in the share will make it count towards the downfall. As per the Tesco strategic report, it stated
that there is decline in the number of shares till June and that has reportedly been 3.7% drop in
just three months. This was regarding as the worst trading in the history of Tesco.
Lost overseas advantage: many of the issues are related to the overseas trading. Pertaining to this
Clarke added that, in 2011 its was decide by him to launch Tesco in the US. But then the fresh
and easy operation continued to haemorrhage the money, it was then decided to close the mission
of committing Tesco in the United States (Kanakaratne and et.al, 2020).
Impact of these challenges
The retailing sector is one of the major contributors of economy. The ever growing marketing
competition lead to the raise of many retailers. Tesco being one of the retailers with its
supermarket that provides groceries on a large scale will have to maintain proper management. A
proper management will enhance the business and will make it expand overseas. The above

issues are because of the back step that Tesco made in the retailing sector. The UK retailer
industry is turning tough day to day. This is because of many liable retailing services all over.
Pertaining to the above issues, they are to be managed with a perfect leadership and managers.
The managers will have to inculcate the steps that are to be taken in order to minimise these
issues. As there is a set of mangers for every department and Tesco being one of the companies
that values every employee decision in the strategies that are to be employed will have to
minimise the negotiations in order to tackle with the market. The company’s managers will have
to research and develop statistics of all the companies which helps it to target a particular one to
resolve issues that are related to the targets (Jordan and et.al, 2017). Because of various new
approaches, there is a decline in the percentage of shares and this can be minimised if proper
plan regarding the number of people that consume good and making note of their interests will
not allow the resources to be surplus and there will not be any wastage. Through this the decline
in the shares can be minimised. To gain the overseas advantage, the company will have to first
conduct a survey about the places where the firm is going to be committed. Knowing about the
pertaining conditions and retailing situations in that place, decisions of expanding the company
overseas can be decided.
Toolkit/Psychometric Test Strengths Weaknesses
APTITUDE TEST
Result: the innate capacity for
making connections is learnt.
Being a retailer, I can manage
connections overseas to
commit the business.
Due to unfavourable conditions
overseas, managing
connections will sometimes be
hectic.
SKILL TEST
Result: the unbiased evaluation of
performance is grasped.
Can communicate proficiently
with the customers regarding
the sales and transactions.
Sometimes managing finances
will turn clumsy.

PERSONALITY TEST
Result: Myers Briggs personality
test is applied and perceiving,
thinking, extroversion and
introversion traits are understood.
I prefer to follow a schedule to
carry forward my work at all
the stages.
I sometimes do not worry
about recording works that will
serve future purpose.
SITUATIONAL JUDGEMNET
Result: The Competencies of
potential working is understood.
Based on the current purchases
by the customers I can
calculate the extent to which
the sales can reach.
There will be few calculations
misleading by wrong
recordings.
Psychometric tests
In an organisation it is essential for an individual to analyse the basic psychometric evaluation to
make sure that the performance is clearly applied in the related areas. Psychometric tests are a
result of the critical evaluation of the employee or a person working upon the company’s tasks.
The different psychometric test analysis as per my individual evaluation is put forth to determine
the different approaches that I opted to perform my works. The strengths and weaknesses in this
regard are highlighted in the tabular format and the brief of it is as follows.
Aptitude test:
The aptitude test is usually conducted to analyse the innate abilities and understand various
connections in a company. the organisation is a vast sector which is further divided into sub

sectors of work and each one is allotted with different managers to carryout the managerial
actions. The retailing industry in this regard is an exponential one in which there are numerous
connections and relations that are maintained between companies and businesses. Tesco being
the largest retailer of groceries there are many factors of considerations. Working in Tesco will
help to develop aspects related to connections. As a part of this I being the retailer and dealing
with the sales part, my strength usually lies in making connections overseas (McBee and et.al,
2016). Completely involving myself in the expanding the trade in other places by managerial
connection is what I have strongly incurred. Although this part is being done in a positive
approach, as it is said like when there is something good, obviously there will negativity
pertaining. Here the conditions are associated with the environmental factors of the places that I
would want to opt to extend the trade. Sometimes it turns difficult to maintain the same
connectivity over a long run. This will further bring down the resources that are allotted for
raising this connectivity.
Skill test:
Skills are an asset of individual. A person with highest skills will be the one that is taken for a
particular work. Every organisation in the beginning of recruitment aims to grab the one that is
more potential towards working upon a task. The retailing company is everything about the sales.
How far we are able to manage the profits is what that actually matters. The customer relations
are to be properly managed to enhance the number of sales. The major skill of mine pertaining to
the company Tesco is the way I usually communicate with the customers and the people who are
usually employed in the trade. There is a certainty in the way we approach people and then the
communication is all that matters. With communication comes the profits. Everything lies in
how a person deals with the customer approach and makes most of the transactions. I can with
my innate abilities grab them towards buying the stuff and through the shareholders I can
immensely involve myself upon selling and buying the shares. While doing this I probably face
issues regarding management of the finances. The finances are a hardest topic to deal with.
While transactions and billings are on one hand, finances and recording are on the other hand.
My weakness here is that I cannot deal with huge number of financial statements all at once
which will further impact the organisation I am working for because sometimes I might fail to
record the right amount and might give shares at the loss.

Personality test:
The personality assessment is important and crucial to every worker in an organisation. not just
being there in the management for over a long run, the personality of one must impact the other.
The personality is nothing but the way a person interprets the basic things that are happening
around. The extroversion, introversion, perceiving and feelings and every minute action of the
employee are recorded in the way it has to be (Aiello and et.al, 2020). The personality tests speak
a lot about an individual. working as an employee in any organisation is when we adopt to things
that the management insists. One cannot be in the same manner in and out of the organisation.
the way an employee behaves must not affect the others in the team. My strengths through this
personality test is depicted in this. Tesco being the largest retailer will have to be sure about the
records and the reports. I usually schedule my work upon different tasks that are allotted to me
by the management. This scheduling will avoid the confusion and dilemma that I take in work.
This will also help to complete every stipulated task without failing to work. Sometimes this
particular trait of mine will also be helpful to the people around me when they usually forget
about the things they will have to do. But my weakness here is that sometimes I neglect upon
recording things by overthinking that I can remember the readings and reports. This neglecting
will lead me into different world of not being able to cope up with. Through this test my ability
of pursuing and the weakness that is attached is known.
Situational judgement:
The competencies that are related to potential working are drawn in this test. Every situation is to
be endured and enhanced to draw a better result. The situational judgement will not leave any
matter unsolved. When the market is in a competition and the organisation that one person is
working for is involved, there are certainties that are associated with the competencies. The work
is divided upon factors that are to be solved and situationally judged. The retailing company
requires quick minds to calculate and solve the issues. Being the working staff of the
organisation and dealing with huge number of customers left no trail unsolved. My strength is to
carry out the calculations related to the transactions and can at that particular time give my
judgement upon the nature of a customer. Based on that judgement we can analyse how to tackle
with the customer and maintain the same relation throughout. The industry itself requires people

who are sharp and can manage things in no time. Therefore, my strength can determine the
potential up to which I can further take and make moves in the company. my weakness here is
that, sometimes I go for wrong assumption because of too much judgement and my calculations
will turn to be disastrous at times. This will sometimes affect the trade because of the wrong
input I usually generate due to wrong assumptions and that which will turn out to be the wrong
pattern. This test will bring out the capability of situationally judging the circumstances which
are far essential for the company like Tesco.
The different psychometric tests that are employed in the table are almost seen in every
individual whose working in a retailing sector. These are the basic and simple tests that will hep
to identify the personification of the employee.
Recommendations
The specific steps to be taken for enhancing strengths and overcoming weakness.
 To increase connection world-wide, networking is the best source. Networking enhances
the connection and helps in building a healthy relationship with people and employees.
To develop connections social media sites can be used like LinkedIn helps to meet people
of the different organizations working in various fields. (Sayed, S., 2018. ) Other social
media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are also the way to connect
people and build connections. Some political and technological factors may interpret and
can break the connection. To overcome such a situation innovation and new ideas can be
generated for the technical issue. For political issues change in government policy can
help.
 Communication with customers regarding sales and transactions should be professional
and unbiased. It should be a two-way communication, there should not be any confusion
in the communication. Barriers are to be avoided like misinterpretation, unclarity,
communication gap, and other noises. ( Koev, 2017.) To get a master's in communication
for sales there are various techniques like active listening, open-mind during
communication, clarity of thoughts, and being aware of non-verbal communication.

Phishing mail, spam calls, unauthorized message are some example which breaks the
communication. So information should be verified first from authorized people and
sources. Body language also plays a vital role in communication. Body language includes
hand movements, facial expressions, eye contact these all factors indicate the state of
mind. The tone used while communication should be polite and respectful, it should not
intimate the other person. While communicating body language should be also
considered an important factor.
 To follow the schedule, the strategy of time management should be adopted. Make a plan
of work, prioritize job in short form, focus on work only, distraction should be avoided
and decision making should be fast. To be highly effective in work, time management is
an important factor. For multitasking, various tools of time management will help to
follow a schedule and complete work before time. (Rydén and El Sawy, 2019.) Time
management provides quality work, productivity, and efficiency increases, it also
improves the quality of work and life. Time management increases the chances of career
growth. Make a structure of work, create a to-do list on a daily, weekly, and monthly
basis, follow the structure, it will boost the chances to work systematically for the
organization.
 The total number of purchase defines the sales amount. During sales calculation, the price
of products and profit margin are must to be considered. There are various tools available
in the market to calculate the sales and revenue of the organization. Net sales and gross
sales are calculated as the value of revenue gets clear. When there are changes of
miscalculation and misreading of data, consult a professional for reviewing the data.
Tracking the data, maintaining the purchase records, sales records on daily basis, auditing
is some methods that can be applied for misreading the data. To improve the data
accuracy set data quality goals, avoid overloading, review the data, adopt accuracy
standards, and built a good work environment.

CONCLUSION
The entire report deals with the essence of management and leadership. It states that the leader is
a person who is responsible to lead the team with proper motives and moves that are essential for
the organisation. organisational management solely depends upon how the management in
various components of the organisation are carried. The company Tesco and its objectives are
explained clearly in the report bringing forth the essence of management. Tesco is one of the
largest retailers in the UK with employees that are involved in different stores of the company.
every store is further lead by a manager who has proper leadership abilities and can carryout the
transactions and assistance at required times. The issues pertaining to the company are discussed
along with the evaluation and evidences from the report that is generated by the company. a
proper management will save that company from drowning. Further the psychometric tests
regarding the strengths and issues are listed in the table. Followed by this table is the critical
evaluation of all the strengths and weakness related to the particular test. Every point is discussed
in brief and to highlight the beauty of management.