Leadership Challenges, Changes, and Recommendations for Woolworths

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership challenges encountered by Woolworths, a major Australian retailer. It begins by defining leadership and exploring different leadership styles, such as democratic and autocratic approaches. The report then delves into specific challenges faced by Woolworths, including issues related to restructuring, poor innovation, and employee dissatisfaction stemming from fair work commission disputes. These challenges are attributed to a lack of strategic leadership and poor communication. The report further examines the need for changes in leadership approaches to address complex market dynamics, emphasizing the importance of market research and competitive analysis. It suggests recommendations for improving leadership quality, such as fostering innovation, encouraging employee development, and improving communication. The report also highlights the importance of proactive problem-solving, creativity, and goal setting to effectively manage leadership challenges within the organization.

Running Head: Management
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Woolworth
Leadership
12/28/2019

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Concept of leadership......................................................................................................................2
Different forms of leadership style..................................................................................................2
Reasons of challenges looking into leaders.....................................................................................3
Leadership Challenges faced in Organization.................................................................................3
Changes needed for understanding and framing leadership for meeting the challenges in complex
times.................................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations for improving the quality of leadership............................................................8
Recommendations of the limitations of approaches to develop both leader and leadership...........9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
In the current era, it has been found that the dynamic environment affects the working of
the businesses. Leaders of the company are the one who performs the major practices as they are
the one who contributes to meeting the goals and objectives of the company. Leadership is one
of the processes which can direct and influence the behavior of the other towards the attainment
of the goals. One of the leading companies is Woolworths who has its headquarters in New
South Wales, Australia (Woolworth, 2019). The company is one of the retailers throughout the
supermarket merchandise stores as well as petrol situations. There are different challenges which
are witnessed by the Woolworths Company in the current environment.
Concept of leadership
When someone leads with the power and took the major decision in the organization with the
proper authority is termed as the leader. A leader has many responsibilities in the organization
and he also has to motivate the other employees to reach the goals. He is the one who maintains
coordination with the other employees and always boosts the energy level. He has a good
personality which attracts other people and also has good communication skills. A good leader is
the one who has positive vibes and also includes integrity and empathy.
Different forms of leadership style
The Democratic leadership is followed in the company Woolworth so that while making
any effective decisions the contribution or the subordinates are also taken. The power of making
the decisions should be in the hand of the entire membership in the company so that major
collaboration will be there and coordination in the employees can be seen. The communication
lines are open in the organization which gives the benefits to the company while communicating
with the other members. The ideas of other members in the organization freely flow in this
method of leadership.
Autocratic leadership is the leadership style where the decisions are taken by the superior
authority and subordinates have to follow that. The advice given by the superiors is to follow by

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the subordinates and they have to consider their ideas and judgments only. All the control over
the decisions is taken by the leader and it is known as autocratic leadership.
Reasons for challenges looking into leaders
Several leadership challenges occur in the business environment of Australia.
Woolworth’s facing several challenges in the business due to the lack of leadership in the
company. Woolworths facing several challenges in the business environment and the leaders of
the company have a lack of knowledge and they are not able to deal with the problems that
occurred in the process of the leading in the business (Voegtlin, et al., 2012). The several
challenges occur in the leadership of the Woolworths organization that decreases the overall
growth of the business. The main challenge in this process is poor innovation that is very
essential to manage these challenges as innovation is the best way to attract consumers and if the
innovation is poor the sales of the organization get decreased. The leaders of the organization
face several challenges in setting the proper goals of the business and it maintains the short-term
goals. Several leadership challenges create many problems in business.
Leadership Challenges faced in Organization
Woolworths faces challenges related to restructuring. A plan for restructuring has raised
many issues and concerns about future redundancies. The leaders of the company planned to
terminate the old employees and thinking to hire new employees to attain success in business.
There are many challenges that have been faced by the company just because of this step as
warehouses workers have lodged a dispute against it. Apart from termination, the workers also
lodged against the company for a fair work commission. The dispute has been raising a big issue
for the company in terms of survival. The existing workers are also not able or capable to do the
work due to which the quality of services is also decreasing. It is essential for the employees to
get a fair commission on their work for survival.
If the employee does not get the benefits from the organization they decided to leave or
not to do the best for their performances. This dispute also affects the reputation of the company
in the Australian market as they terminate the workers across Australia supermarkets. Fair work

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commission is the encouragement that the leader has to use in order to motivate the employees to
do the work. But in Woolworth, it is observed that the leader will not encourage employees as it
does not gives the fair commission to consumers. As a result, it is decided that the company has
to provide a reasonable fair according to their period of service (Patty, 2019).
The workers are also disappointed who works with the company for 20-30 years. A small
amount of money is not enough for the company as it affects the business. It is difficult for the
workers to leave the organization in such a manner. The decision not only affects the old workers
but also affects the new workers as it does not give their best until they are not sure about their
jobs (The Guardian, 2019). These issues affect the performances and quality of services that have
been provided by the company to consumers. Apart from it, the brand value of the company is
also affected and decreases that is why; it is essential for the company to reduces the challenges.
These issues have been raised just because of restricting the management and appoint the new
leaders for the company. The decisions of new leaders are not recognized as the best decision for
the company (O'Neill Jr, & Nalbandian, 2018).
Poor innovation is also the result of a lack of strategic leadership style. Due to a lack of
strategic leadership style, it is observed that the company is not able to cover the new
innovations. It is essential to motivate the employees to do some innovation with new ideas in
order to complete the work. Innovation is the source that helps the company to do things in an
effective manner and with high quality. The leaders did not encourage the employees and
provide the training for their development (Adner, 2016). As a result, employees perform their
work according to their best knowledge and study. As they perform their services according to
their knowledge and study due to which they are not able to provide some innovative work to the
company. The employees also get less time to experience new things in supermarkets due to
which they perform their services with the old ideas and knowledge which is not enough for the
company to survive for a long time in the market. Leaders have to encourage and supervise the
employees but in Woolworths, the leaders have been failed to do this (Antonakis, & Day, 2017).
The other most important challenge of the leadership in Woolworth is to restructure the
organization. The leaders face problems due to the restructuring of the organization. The
restructuring is the corporate management term that creates several issues in the organization.

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This leadership challenge creates several problems in the organization and decreases the profits
of the organization (Thomas, et al., 2012). The restructuring of the organization creates several
changes in the business so change management also comes as the biggest challenge in the work
of the leaders, The leading of the change is the biggest leadership challenge faced by the leaders
of the organization. Woolworths restructuring the organization and it creates many problems in
the business and the employees of the company also face issues due to the changes occurred in
the business process.
The other leadership challenge is the lower productivity in which the leaders face many
problems in business management and it cannot improve productivity in a short time. The lower
of productivity creates many challenges in the work of the employees and decreases the overall
management of the organization (Derr, 2012). Woolworths need to manage the strategic
leadership style for the leaders so that the work can be managed in a proper manner. The main
business problems faced by Woolworths are related to leadership challenges. The leading change
is one of the biggest challenges facing by Woolworths as the restructuring of the organization
create several challenges in the business and this process distracts the employees and decreases
their motivation towards the work (Trong Tuan, 2012). The poor innovation is essential to
overcome so that the sales can be increased in the overall business environment. The innovation
is the basic and important need for the Woolworths so they need to maintain the innovative
aspects so the organization improves their profits.
It is important for the leaders to deal with the leadership challenges in a proper manner so
that the challenges can be reduced from the environment and it maintains the proper growth of
the organization. The leaders of the business need to be proactive for the proper situation
management. The creativity of the leaders also helps in managing the challenges faced by the
leaders. Creativity is the main part to manage the challenges faced by the leaders. The leadership
challenge is the biggest problem faced by the leaders and it is essential to manage this problem
(de Waal and Sivro, 2012). The setting of goals is also important in managing the leadership
challenges and the proper goals of the organization are difficult to take ownership of their role.
The adjusting of the role is important to manage the overall process and it improves the overall
system of the organization.

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The main challenge faced by the leaders of Woolworths is the lack of communication as
the new leaders and employees cannot communicate properly in the business and this creates
problems in the overall aspects. The leaders need to improve the communication capabilities in
the business so the challenges can be managed properly and the proper communication improves
the motivation of the employees and increases the overall productivity of the organization.
Leadership manages the overall aspects of the organization. The leaders of Woolworths follow
several steps to solve the problems so that the particular process of the business can be managed
easily.
Changes needed for understanding and framing leadership for meeting the challenges in
complex times
To deal with complex and uncertain times, the leader needs to bring the changes so that
they can better meet the challenges of the leadership. It has been observed that Woolworths
Company is dealing with a wide range of issues which lead to the influence on their working.
The leaders of the company are the one who leads, directs and controls the working of the
company. The leaders of the Woolworths are dealing with the wide range of the issues which
need the attention (Foti, Hansbrough, Epitropaki, & Coyle, 2017). The leaders of the company
need to bring the change within their working style about the leadership. One of the changes
which are essential to be done by the company is to conduct market research where the company
is operating its business.
The market of Australia is very competitive in terms of the retail industry due to which
the company needs to conduct the proper market research which is lacking in business. The
leaders of the company are not able to conduct an in-depth review as well as they are not doing
the analyses of the strategies of their competitors. The need for research will help the company to
acknowledge the complex and uncertainty in the market (Nawaz & Khan_ Ph.D., 2016). The
proper research of the market will draw the attention of the company towards the leadership
decisions that are formed by the leader. As per the reports of the research in the market, the
leader will take the decisions which will help them to safeguard their operations in the market of
Australia.

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Leaders of the company deal with the issue of restructuring in the complex market which
is considered as one of the major issues. In the leading environment, the structure of the
company is key to the success of the company due to which the leaders need to take the steps in
favor of the company. Considering the issue of restructuring the company leaders deduct the
salary of their employees, terminate the employees and others which leads to several other issues
for the company (Storey, 2016). Leaders need to understand that employees of the company
work as an asset who can not only frame the success but they are the one who can destroy it. The
value to the employees of the company is essential. The company should bring the change in its
structure which is possible by understanding the basic needs and expectations of the employees.
For this, the company should apply Maslow's hierarchy of needs (Bouzenita & Boulanouar,
2016). This is a motivation theory in psychology that comprising a five-tier model of the human
needs which often depicted the hierarchy levels within the pyramid. It has been found that in the
current market it is difficult for any company to hire experienced and skilled employees. Thus,
they should value the employees and restructure the changes.
In the research, this has been witnessed that the company deals with the change
management issues which affect the operations of the company. Along with this, Woolworth’s
leader has taken some decisions which lead to the issue of poor innovation, the decline in
productivity of the company and many others. Considering these changes, the business needs to
understand the changes that they have to bring so that they can deal with the leadership
challenges. The leaders need to upraise their knowledge and skills for the different elements like
change management tools, effective use of innovation and many others.
The leaders of the company need to understand the change management concepts and
tools which include Lewin’s change management which is essential to apply while bringing
change so that they can effectively bring the change (Hussain, Lei, Akram, Haider, Hussain &
Ali, 2018). The proper implementation of the model of change will help to deal with the issues at
the change management. Moreover, leaders should learn and adopt the new technology that helps
them in attaining the goals and objectives of the company. The company will be able to bring
innovation with the help of the new technology. The use of technology will help the company in
attaining the high productivity of the company which meets the goals of the company.

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Recommendations for improving the quality of leadership
There are several ways through which leadership quality can be improved. It can be done
by making the proper discipline in the Woolworth organization. In Woolworth, there was a lack
of proper coordination and communication so it is recommended that to improve the leadership
quality there should be effective communication. The company should follow the proper
structure and hierarchy so that coordination, as well as effective communication, can be
maintained (Armstrong, 2018).
It was recommended that there was a lack of the motivation skills also in the leader so he
has to learn how to motivate the other members of the employees in the company so that quality
of leadership can be maintained in the Woolworth Company. Change management is another
biggest leadership issue that can be effectively addressed by taking meetings or communicating
with the employees in an effective way (Bolden, 2016). If the employees well aware of the
changes before they will prepare themselves towards it or ready to accept the changes but if they
are not addressed before the issues can be faced by the leaders. So they have to intimate earlier it
is recommended that.
Another issue faced in quality leadership is that people do not agree on the same thongs
so it becomes very difficult to make the decisions (Fiaz, et al., 2017). So it is recommended that
for improving the leadership development programs the decision has to be taken by considering
the opinions of everyone in the team or every employee in the Woolworth Company but then the
leader will take those decisions which are benefited both the organization as well as to the
employees. The decisions should be made which are benefited everyone but it should be mostly
in favor of the company Woolworth.
The conflicts in the company Woolworth has been seen majorly between the employees
so it is recommended that conflicts can be resolved by making the proper relationship between
them and by making the good communication with them so that no further issues can be seen in
the organization (Bolman and Deal, 2017). The quality leadership can also be developed through
the learning process and by a good listener. The leader should not only just give the suggestions

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or instructions but he should be one who can also consider the opinions and listens to another
person patiently.
It is recommended that the leaders should set the goals and then encourage the other
members to complete those goals and to accomplish it with the best. The leader should never be
having any ego with his strengths in fact he should be one who takes control of their own
learning (Puni, et al., 2014). Another issue faced in the Woolworth Company is that the leaders
were not committed and passionate about their words. So it is recommitted that to attain the
employee’s confidence and to attain their trust it is important to fulfill the words which were said
by the leader.
Recommendations of the limitations of approaches to develop both leader and leadership
The leader has to use many approaches of the leadership to develop the leader and the
leadership as it would help to address many issues (Aarons, et al., 2015). The leadership can be
improved by providing some incentives or some rewards to the other employees who are
performing their best so that many get motivation to work harder. To improve the quality
leadership the leader is the one who has to even improve the management skills and earn the
respect from their coworkers. So it is recommended that to earn the respect more and to maintain
their dignity the leader in the company Woolworth has to earn the respect (Kane and Patapan,
2014). As a good leader, the person should have the proper discipline. The quality of leadership
can also be improved by taking more projects with responsibility.

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References
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Adner, R. (2016). Navigating the leadership challenges of innovation ecosystems. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 58(1).
Antonakis, J., & Day, D. V. (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Armstrong, D. (2018). Organization in the mind: Psychoanalysis, group relations and
organizational consultancy. Routledge.
Bolden, R. (2016). Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower
handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Bouzenita, A. I., & Boulanouar, A. W. (2016). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: An Islamic
critique. Intellectual Discourse, 24(1).
Burke, W. W. (2017). Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.
de Waal, A., & Sivro, M. (2012). The relation between servant leadership, organizational
performance, and the high-performance organization framework. Journal of Leadership
& Organizational Studies, 19(2), 173-190.
Derr, C. L. (2012). Ethics and leadership. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 9(6),
66-71.
Fiaz, M., Su, Q., & Saqib, A. (2017). Leadership styles and employees' motivation: Perspective
from an emerging economy. The Journal of Developing Areas, 51(4), 143-156.