Business Communication: Leadership Styles Impact on Organizations

This report examines the impact of different leadership styles on business communication, focusing on the contrasting approaches of Woolworths and Cotton On. Woolworths employs an autocratic leadership style with authoritarian communication, which, while enabling quick decision-making, potentially stifles employee input and may lead to lower morale and job satisfaction. Conversely, Cotton On utilizes a democratic or participative leadership style with libertarian communication, fostering a more open environment where employees are encouraged to share ideas and participate in decision-making, enhancing creativity and potentially increasing individual performance, though it might slow down the decision-making process. The report analyzes how these leadership styles influence organizational culture, employee performance, and overall business outcomes, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and emphasizing the importance of effective communication for organizational success.

Business
Communication

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
It refers to the process of sharing information in order to promotes a company aims,
activities, objectives and maximise profits within the organisation. It is the essence of
management where knowledge can be transferred by mutual understanding between the
employees and employers in the business institution. The basic function of management will not
perform without the effective communication. It is an important tool for leaders, managers and
directors to effectively guide their employees on every single project so that they work in a well-
managed way. This report lights on the impact of leadership style of communication on
Woolworth and Cotton on where first company use autocratic leadership style with authoritarian
communication and second company follows democratic leadership style with libertarian
communication and in what manner they impact on the individual performance and business
culture(Addams and Allred, 2015).
MAIN BODY
Leaders -
A leader is the one who influence or guide a group of people in the organisation.
Communication is a very complicated and core task for the leaders that is performed at every
level and in each task that perform in a company. For successful organisation leaders effectively
communicate with their subordinates so that task can be done smoothly. And listen carefully
their immediate employees work related problem and solve it as soon as possible(Bovée, Thill
and Raina, 2016). Leaders provide directions to the organisation and if they do not work
efficiently with their team members than it spoils the organisational culture and also effects the
employees performance.
Organisation culture refers to shared values, beliefs and assumption that govern how
people behave in a business enterprise. These values and beliefs have a strong influence on how
to act and perform their jobs in the particular administration.
Organisation performance is the process of analysing and identifying a company
performance on the basis of objectives and goals. It is that performance which comprises real
result or outcomes compared with planned outcomes.
Impact of leadership style of communication on organisational culture and performance
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Communication is the two way process where one wants to listen other carefully.
Leadership communication refers to that information from a leader that are core in the values and
culture of a company and is very important to key stakeholders of the business which includes
employees, customers, media and the strategic planners. It is start from self- awareness that
means if a person communicate with other individual or group of people than firstly
communicator can understand the inner monologue after that transfer information. Ideas and
thoughts are very clear in the minds of communicator that they easily understood by the other
person(Brink and Costigan, 2015).
Here the Woolworth use authoritarian leadership style which refers to that where leaders
orders policies and procedures and according to that decides what goals can be achieved. They
also controls all activities without any involvement of any employees in the organisation. This
style is only effective for where inexperienced staff members are available which need close
observation until they become familier with their work.
Woolworths is one of the best leading supermarket chain in Australia. Here leaders play
an important role in achieving the goal at a specified time. For establishing a positive business
culture it needs to be keep alive and use that leadership style with communication theory due to
which every employee provide proper training to reflect the values of a company. In this
organisation, leaders use autocratic leadership style which means a group of management make
all the decisions regarding the project and task and convey it to staff members.
The reason of using this style for communication is that within the business there are
many employees who are students and casual people having limited skills. This style of
leadership use authoritarian theory of communication that would reflect in the performance and
culture of the company. Leaders have full control and this does not allow employees to provide
their thoughts and ideas in front of them, offers a questionable ethics and avoid fairness this will
down the morale of the subordinates in the working culture. It will also creates a dependency
because leaders have the sole right to take the decision about the task and there is no
involvement of the subordinates. This will make impossible for the superior to leave the work
place. The autocratic leaders are result- oriented so they don't trust their subordinates easily at
decision making process this will crate a negative environment and also leads to down the
performance of the subordinates as well as job dissatisfaction. Here every employees work like a
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robot and because of this there is no creative ideas occur in the organisation(Cardon and
Marshall, 2015).
It also brought advantages like it allows fast decision making because only one person
focus on the pros and cons of the situation that occur in the Woolworth. It also improves
productivity because autocratic leaders can flow the information throughout the organisation
rapidly(Coffelt, Baker and Corey, 2016). Here the employees will not stop their work because of
timely information they get and that's create a positive working environment that leads to
consistent production and accurate work. Autocrat leadership style includes authoritarian
communication theory which explains the all forms of communication are under the control of
higher authorities or influential bureaucrats. The leaders use this theory when there is very little
time to discussed the problem with their group members or when leaders is only knowledgable
member present in the organisation. Employees could gain better understanding of what they do
or not to do as a team member. An authoritarian communication encourage an employee to
dedicated towards their work and enhance their performance. These leaders emphasize that their
team mates are the best performer in the organisation by all other teams. Authoritarian leaders
influence the culture of the organisation which in turn influences the organisational performance
because this leaders are bossy and classic in nature. This type of leadership style restricts the
Woolworth to socialization and communication which is important for effective organisational
performance. It also leads to creates conflicts which drastically affect the overall
performance(Lucas and Rawlins, 2015).
Democratic or participative leadership style refers to the collaboration or free-flow of ideas and
thoughts that was present in a mind of an individual. While this type of leaders use two way
communication where every employee interact with other and share their ideas, problem and
solution relating to the particular situation. In this responsibility will be shared among all the
employees and leader is present to guide and discussed them.
Cotton on is one of the largest Australian global retailer which is famous for clothing and
stationary brands. To established a healthy and positive organisational culture and performance
leaders use democratic leadership style. Communication plays an important role in leaders life.
Effective communication can improve performance of the team mates and its also helpful in
creating healthy environment at the workplace.
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Communication is the glue that holds organisations together which means every and each
people relate to another. The main aim of the leaders is to ensure that team mates can understand
both extrinsic and intrinsic problem that was faced by the business and transfer ideas and facts to
their superior for organisational success. In democratic leadership style every member have the
equal right to participate in decision making process this will enhance the creativity level and
increase individual performance of the employees. Here they all communicate easily with
anyone without any hesitation this will create a healthy culture.
Effectively transfer the information lays the foundation for leading others. Leadership
communication consists of those information that are rooted in the culture, values and beliefs of
a cotton on company. These types of facts affects the mission, vision and modification of an
institution. In participative style, leaders are very polite towards their subordinates and in this
they belief in freedom of thoughts and individualism. libertarian leaders are encouraging the
people for their positive work. It also reduce the impact of corruption by providing friendly
environment where transfer of information is much transparent because of this every member are
aware about their works. Effective media gives all employees true and useful information
without any control. There is no restriction in sharing the ideas and facts openly. It creates an
environment where motivation can occur that provide a path of success for people to follow.
leaders convey messages in a way that creates more opportunities, increased competition and
promotion this believes team mates that everyone has the role to play according to their
satisfaction level(Mayfield and Mayfield, 2017).
Organisation follow participative or democratic leadership style where communication
can be done in a two-way process from top level to bottom level and be applied constantly. This
style permits everyone have a voice to participate in the decision making process. It also provide
a sense of accountability in a way that every employee will know what they say will matter or
not and make suggestions that will be results oriented. Culture is an important within the
organisation which reflects the values, beliefs, attitudes and actions shared by the team people.
The organisation leader also focus on the listening process to enhance the employees
performance and to maintain the good culture in a company. The last decision was always taken
by the superior but allows other people to share their information with their team mates this
would manage the perfect atmosphere for every member, which ultimately connect to the
proficiency of the business as a whole. Because of libertarian theory many workers feel satisfied
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about their jobs and their satisfaction level is very high. Using feedback option for the
employees where they will share problems and issues that taken place in the organisation helps
in increasing morale and productivity of every individuals(Nickerson, 2015). It also contain
some drawbacks which affect the organisational culture and performance in a way that it
includes number of participation and there is a involvement of many people because of this
making decision will be slowed down. It also takes time to verify the accuracy of the decision.
Sometimes leaders feels that they will reduce their power and influence over the other
employees. It is less effective with unskilled or less experienced staff members because they will
not give the good suggestion that is helpful in achieving the task at a given period of time in the
organisation(Thomas and Stephens, 2015).
CONCLUSION
From the above described report it has been concluded that company Woolworth use
autocratic leadership style with authoritarian communication theory which helps in fast and
quick decision making because of one way communication process is used. Here the leaders
influence the staff members according to their own way. In this information can be transferred
from top to bottom only(Veltsos, 2017). There is no involvement of team members in decision
making process. It will develops and increase conflicts among the people in the working
environment. Authoritarian improves productivity but defuse morale of the individual. This type
is only useful for that company where there are unskilled people are available. On the contrary
cotton on follow democratic leadership style where every employee is free to suggest and share
their valuable ideas and thoughts to their leaders. Leaders are very effective in transferring
information and share with them other team person this will create healthy environment but at
the same time it increases the time in making decisions which are very helpful for achieving the
goal in the organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journal
Addams, L.H. and Allred, A.T., 2015. Business communication course redesigned: All written
and oral communication assignments based on building career skills. Academy of
Educational Leadership Journal. 19(1). p.250.
Bovée, C.L., Thill, J.V. and Raina, R.L., 2016. Business communication today. Pearson
Education India.
Brink, K.E. and Costigan, R.D., 2015. Oral communication skills: Are the priorities of the
workplace and AACSB-accredited business programs aligned?. Academy of
Management Learning & Education. 14(2). pp.205-221.
Cardon, P. W. and Marshall, B., 2015. The hype and reality of social media use for work
collaboration and team communication. International Journal of Business
Communication. 52(3). pp.273-293.
Coffelt, T. A., Baker, M.J. and Corey, R.C., 2016. Business communication practices from
employers’ perspectives. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly. 79(3).
pp.300-316.
Lucas, K. and Rawlins, J. D., 2015. The competency pivot: Introducing a revised approach to
the business communication curriculum. Business and Professional Communication
Quarterly. 78(2). pp.167-193.
Mayfield, J. and Mayfield, M., 2017. Leadership communication: Reflecting, engaging, and
innovating.
Nickerson, C., 2015. The death of the non-native speaker? English as a lingua franca in business
communication: A research agenda. Language Teaching. 48(3). pp.390-404.
Thomas, G.F. and Stephens, K. J., 2015. An introduction to strategic communication.
Veltsos, J.R., 2017. Gamification in the business communication course. Business and
Professional Communication Quarterly. 80(2). pp.194-216.
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