Analysis of Unilever's Leadership and Management Styles

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MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS
UNILEVER PRIVATE LIMITED COMPANY
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Contents
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................3
TASK 1 (LO1&2)..............................................................................................................4
TASK 2 (LO3&4)............................................................................................................ 13
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................... 23
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................24
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INTRODUCTION
The report deals with the comprehensive study of the management of Unilever Plc, a
British Dutch company which sells consumer goods. The roles and responsibilities of
leaders and managers are discussed with the context of the chosen organization for the
aim of increasing the productivity of manufacturing and quality of products. For the
positive accomplishment of work, managers, as well as leaders, need to perform their
respective functions many of which are examined in the report. With reference to the
management and operations, viabilities of leadership styles and management theories
in Unilever Plc is also analyzed. Further, different approaches in operation management
are discussed and external factors are considered which can impact the business
environment with respect to PESTLE theory. The primary functions of the production
manager in relation to the operation management are investigated with the scope of
improvement from the action of leaders and managers.
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TASK 1 (LO1&2)
Organization
The term organization can be defined as the grouping and sorting of activities to fulfil
the goals and plans, assignment of these processes to relevant departments and
handling of delegation, authority and overall coordination (Koontz, 2010). Most of the
organizations and companies have a management framework which estimates the
relationship between different actions to be performed. An alternative definition for an
organization can be referred to as the collection of personnel that is put together and
effectively managed to execute a task. The organization can be treated as an extended
system which affects and is affected by other external systems. The organization is
headed by a leader.
Management
Management can be broadly defined as the art of getting the work done through
subordinates and team members; to keep the team and technology working fluently
(Starkey, 2012). The most important areas of management generally consist of
establishing a plan, organizing of resources, staffing the human resources, directing and
commanding of duties, coordination and controlling the activities etc. Management can
be indirectly related to administration work. Management is one of the most important
functions within an organization which affects the performance of its business (Kotter,
2013).
Leader
A person who is in charge of a collection of persons or departments for accomplishing a
common objective can be called as a leader. A leader generally holds a senior position
in its domain. Its main emphasis is rather on the quality than the quantity. The leader is
responsible for giving direction to the organization and its workforce. Leadership can
also be related to the tone that the company's leaders establish in terms of the
corporate culture (Koontz, 2010).
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About The Organization
Unilever is considered as one of the top businesses in the world with a turnover of
almost £40 billion per annum and a number of employees working for the organization
is 179,000 (Unilever, 2019). It was established as a result of a merger between UK
based company Lever Brothers and Dutch company Unie. Palm Oil presently is one of
the chief constituents in most of its products. The company’s core strategy revolves
around efficient distribution and commitment to sustainability (Unilever, 2019). The
present level of diversity in the company's operation is the result of several acquisitions
by the organization in the last few years. The colossal size and corporate diversification
entice to consideration for the study.
COMPARISON BETWEEN MANAGER AND LEADER
Managers and leaders are universally compared on the basis of roles, characteristics,
authority and other factors by taking a suitable example from the organization.
ROLE OF A LEADER
Establishing Goals
A person having clear vision has a tendency to give better direction to its team
members. The workforce cannot be anticipated to deliver the best result if they have
inadequate knowledge about the expected goals. But on the other hand, if they are
aware of their objectives, they are more likely to achieve it with the help of their
individual planning (Hunt, et al. 2013).
Faith
The leader must inspire the trust of the team members and at the same time have belief
in them. A good team leader is the one who develops the feeling of assurance in the
team members regarding their capabilities and potential.
Frequent Motivator
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Apart from the role of assigning a mission to every team, a leader is also responsible for
motivating the team during the difficult times or in the cases, where any type of problem
or obstruction arises. The team, as a result, gets inspired due to the positive
communication obtained from its leader (Mone, 2018).
Time managing Efficiency –
The leader of an organization is entrusted with a huge number of responsibilities and
due to this reason it cannot spend much of the time focusing on any task but in fact,
should effectively manage his time. This will ultimately help the leader in completion of
tasks in time.
CHARACTERISTICS OF LEADER
A leader is the face of any organization, so it Is natural that a number of traits are
expected. Firstly, the leader should be innovative. An ingenious approach to thinking is
likely to give better outcomes. Secondly, any leader is expected to have extraordinary
communication skills which are mandatory for keeping good professional relations
among the organization. A leader should possess descent observational and decision-
making abilities. It has to perceive unseen situations and in many cases implement
decisions immediately which can affect the success of a project. The organization’s
revenues or losses are directly influenced by the nature of decisions taken by the
leader. Deep commitment and high dedication are very essential characteristics which
inspire other team members and juniors to work hard. The leader should be equipped
with a proper attitude to deal in critical situations associated with high-risk factors
(Berry, et al. 2016).
ROLE OF MANAGERS
Managers are generally professionals who execute problem-solving processes for
accomplishing the organizational motives with the help of productive use of resources in
the dynamic environment.
Administration Role
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The manager is responsible for administrative actions like giving orders to subordinates,
signing and authorization of documents, attending the delegates who come for trading,
social or economic reasons.
Planning Role
Managers are in charge of planning the activities and formulation of strategies in
consultation with the company's board of directors and chairpersons for their respective
department (Yahaya and Ebrahim, 2016).
Staffing Role
It is equally important to maintain the workforce with the required amount of skill for
successful completion and execution of processes. For this purpose managers of the
human resource, department conduct recruitment events for hiring employees at
various positions in the organization's hierarchy.
Directing and Coordinating
Allotment and instructing of tasks and targets to respective officers and departments is
done by the management. Further coordination among different departments regarding
material and information flow is ensured by the manager. The table below shows a
comparative analysis of the difference in the roles executed by managers and leaders
with respect to the chosen organization (Toor, 2011).
FAYOL’S ANALYSIS OF MANAGER AND LEADER’S FUNCTION
Basis of
Comparison
Roles of Managers Roles of Leaders
Planning The management of Unilever plans
different strategies and updating of
goals regarding their products and
manufacturing techniques which
may lead to an addition in revenue.
Different techniques such as TQM
and KAIZEN have resulted in
increased growth of the product
potential in the market.
Leaders of Unilever convey the
targets and policies to the
managers and other employees
to meet the estimated goals of
the company.
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Organizing Managers of the company have to
effectively use domestic and
international resources of Unilever.
Leaders of Unilever distribute
and arrange the resources for
managers so that they can use it
towards the organizational
operation.
Staffing The HR department of the
management conducts staffing and
assigning the job as per the talent
and skill level of the workforce.
Leaders of the company
generally engage themselves to
inspire the recruited staff in order
to motivate them and also solve
the complaints of most of the
stakeholders.
Directing Allocation of tasks to be performed
for the operational utility is done by
the managers to the employees.
The leaders in the company
guide with the direction of the
processes and help to fix the
broad timeline of completion.
Coordinatin
g
Unilever managers are involved in
the coordination of different
organizational functions for clear
communication. For instance,
production manager consults with
the finance department for a
minimum cost of the production
processes.
Leaders of the organization
ensure that proper channels and
communication medium is set up
between the departments for
achieving the purpose of
coordination.
Controlling Unilever management tracks and
control the strategies implemented
that were formulated by the leaders
in board meetings.
The leaders in Unilever generally
evaluate the company’s
performance by comparing it
with the competitors in the
market like Nestle, Johnson and
Johnson etc.
MINTZBERG MANAGERIAL ROLE
The model given by Mintzberg is a useful parameter to explain the different kinds of
practices and behaviour that managers should govern for fulfilling various functions of
management. The three main categories of the role are termed as interpersonal,
decisional and information roles. In Unilever Plc, the role of a leader is a lot more
essential than the figurehead role for managerial success. The model is illustrated in the
figure.
Interpersonal roles are related to the activities that focus on interacting with people
and staff increasing the role of communicational skills. Decisional roles are generally
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carried out for making selections and choices based on the interpersonal activities
performed. Informational role with the context of an organization refers to the
collection, distribution and receiving information to and from the department or public
(Mintzberg, 2013).
Through the application of the model to the chosen organization, it is evident that
managers can improve strategic actions and decisions by interrogating the logic
underlying every planned decision to remove any errors or mistakes. On the other hand,
successful leaders can follow a mentoring character for their subordinates for offering
insights and experiences to train them for becoming better leaders or managers
(Starkey, 2012).
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EVALUATION OF ROLES OF MANAGERS AND LEADERS WITH RESPECT TO
UNILEVER PLC BY APPLICATION OF THEORIES
The concepts of different management and leadership theories are analyzed to apply
the changes in strategic plans of Unilever Plc which will result in the enhancement of its
business operations. The duties of the leaders and managers are executed together so
as to fulfil the aims of the company in an optimum manner. The different functions and
management and leadership style help in the proper functioning of the operations. The
current situation of the increase in fuel prices, cost of raw material and other
accessories impact the sales and revenue of Unilever Plc. To handle such a situation
the functions or theories of management and leadership skills should be effectively
implemented to control the manufacturing cost to maximize the sales and revenue.
Theory of Behavioral Study
According to this theory, the manager of Unilever should implement the policies which
consider working abilities and professional skills of employees. On the other hand,
leaders use a transformational style where there is constant communication of plans
and objectives to employees and their behavioural pattern is identified to take steps for
productivity development (Ahearne, et al. 2014).
Modern Theory
Contemporary theory can be understood by taking the example of an organization.
Unilever Plc faced the problem of raise in the production expenses. The strategies were
followed based on the most recent data of the suppliers providing materials at a
reasonable price along with constant monitoring of the procurement cost. Thus the
method comprises taking the recent trend data to finalize future plans (Pavur, 2012).
Theory of Contingency
It refers to the continuous adjustment in the policies with reference to the changing
scenarios of the organizational environment. Taking the instance of the current situation
of Unilever Plc, leaders influenced the management to change the operational
procedure in order to deal with e-commerce challenges in the market. Hence the
managers analyzed the reasons for the shift of consumers from retail to online and
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implemented it to cut down retail store inventory and invest in online infrastructure for
distribution.
ASSESSMENT OF STRENGTH & WEAKNESSES FOR LEADERSHIP STYLES AND
MANAGEMENT AT UNILEVER PLC
Situational Leadership
The needs of the entity are estimated in accordance with the situations developed in the
market. In the case of Unilever, the necessity for the advancement of technology had to
be complied with to extend the range of its consumer range. For this, leaders motivated
employees through supportive & directive styles to ensure the upgrading of
technological infrastructure (Berry, et al. 2016).
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
The policy change made on the
developing situation helped in
taking a competitive advantage in
the market.
The leaders were successful in
uplifting motivation among
employees.
The policy or operational changes
resulted in the unexpected delay for
the distribution of consumer goods
System Leadership:
The leaders and managers tend to create a consolidated system of workplaces for the
smooth flow of communication across departments and workstations. Different
strategies are implemented in respective departments like KAIZEN, TQM etc. to ensure
improvement (Nanjundeswaraswam and Swamy, 2014).
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
Exclusive focus on departmental
and organization’s goal.
Greater adaption to fluctuation in
demand
Better channelizing among various
department
The correlation between
departments has to be classified
clearly in order to avoid complexity
in working.
The task by leaders is increased as
the focus is diverted into different
systems and delegation has to be
done accordingly.
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Classical Theory:
According to Taylor money is the main incentive for any employee and the concept
developed is giving incentives in terms of the worker's performance. The theory is
implemented in Unilever Plc through the process of observing and measuring the data
for increasing the productivity of the different department. This is done by the HR
department and incentive bonuses are provided accordingly (Nhema, 2015)
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
Proper utilization of resources
Fair reward structure based on
performance
It promoted the monotonous work
reducing the scope of creativity
which is not preferred for an
organization like Unilever
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