Assignment on

Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

Unit 1

Edexcel BTEC level 2 Extended Diploma in strategic Management and Leadership

(QCF)

Guildhall College, London

Prepared By:

Submitted To:

Date of Submission:

2

Assignment Topics

AC(1.1) Explain the link between strategic management and leadership.

AC(1.2) Analyze the impact of management and leadership styles on strategic

decision.

AC(1.3) Evaluate how leadership styles can be adapted to different situations.

AC(2.1) Review the impact that selected theories of management and leadership

have on organizational strategic.

AC(2.2) Create a leadership strategic that supports organizational direction

AC(3.1) Use appropriate methods to review current leadership requirements.

AC(3.2) Plan for the development of future situations requiring leadership.

AC(4.1) Plan the developing of leadership skills for a specific requirement.

AC(4.2) Report on the usefulness of methods used to plan the development of

leadership skills.

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Note: The Chosen Organization for the Assignment is TESCO.

Tesco is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt,

United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues (after

Wal-Mart and Carrefour) and the second-largest measured by profits (after Wal-Mart). It

has stores in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America and is the grocery

market leader in the UK (where it has a market share of around 30%), Malaysia, the

Republic of Ireland and Thailand.

The company was founded by Jack Cohen in 1919 and opened its first store in 1929 in

Burnt Oak, Edgware, and Middlesex. The Tesco name first appeared after Cohen

purchased a shipment of tea from T.E. Stockwell and combined those initials with the

first two letters of his surname. Originally a UK-focused grocery retailer, Tesco has

diversified both geographically and into areas such as the retailing of books, clothing,

electronics, furniture, petrol and software; financial services; telecoms and internet

services; DVD rental; and music downloads.

Tesco is chosen for the assignment due to certain reasons. Tesco is one of Britain’s

fastest-growing and most innovative retailers, recognized as one of the best companies to

work for in the UK. Tesco gives their employees clear objectives and expectations. At the

same time, they also allowed more freedom for individual initiative than most other

retailers, as they believe that it is ultimately this sort of personal touch that can make all

the difference to their customers.

[Source: Tesco Website: http://www.tesco.com]

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Table of Contents

Task Topic Page

AC(1.1) Explain the link between strategic management and leadership. 5

AC(1.2)Analyze the impact of management and leadership styles on

strategic decision.7

AC(1.3)Evaluate how leadership styles can be adapted to different

situations.9

AC(2.1)Review the impact that selected theories of management and

leadership have on organizational strategic.10

AC(2.2) Create a leadership strategic that supports organizational direction. 13

AC(3.1)Use appropriate methods to review current leadership

requirements.14

AC(3.2) Plan for the development of future situations requiring leadership. 17

AC(4.1) Plan the developing of leadership skills for a specific requirement. 19

AC(4.2)Report on the usefulness of methods used to plan the development

of leadership skills.21

- Reference 22

- Bibliography 22

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AC(1.1): Explain the link between strategic management and leadership .

To explain the link between strategic management and leadership we should have a clear

understanding of what these two terms actually mean. After understanding these two

terms we can easily explain the link between them.

Strategic Management: According to Barratt and Mottershead (2000), strategy is

described as the way of achieving our objectives. Strategy enables us to ensure that all

our work and things we do every day are going to help us in the long term interests of the

organization.

Strategic Management is the process of establishing and maintaining good strategies.

Making and defining strategy is not enough, you will have to work out a plan for

implementing that strategy in its true spirit. Good strategic management is plays a key

role in approaching business opportunities and challenges.

Leadership: There are different ways of describing leadership so it is very difficult to

provide a single definition that fulfills the task. As Brindley and Buckley (2004) argued

that, “Leadership has been identified as the process by which individual and group

activities are influenced towards organizational goals”. The same thing is narrated in

Business Management Study Manual compiled by The Association of Business

Executives (2007). They are of the view that, “Leadership is a process by which

individuals are influenced so that they will be prepared to participate in the achievement

of organizational or group goals.” While Marcousé (2008) narrates that, “Leadership, at

its best, means inspiring staff to achieve demanding goals.” All these things emphasize

on one basic idea and that is Inspiration or Influence. So we can say that Leadership is the

art of getting things done by inspiration or influence of the leader on its followers while

Management mainly depends on the analysis and ground realities.

After all the discussion we came to the conclusion that Leadership and Strategic

management are interlinked with some minor differences. In the case of strategic

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management we are trying our best to achieve some long term goals and the same is the

case with leadership. In both cases we should have someone with a broad vision; either

it’s a leader or a manager. The bottom line of all this discussion is beautifully captured by

the golden words of Field Marshal Slim that (quoted in Business Management Study

Manual), “Leadership is of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision: its practice

is an art. Management is more a matter of accurate calculation, of statistics, methods,

timetable and routine: its practice is a science.”

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AC(1.2): Analyze the impact of management and leadership styles on strategic

decisions .

Leadership and Management Styles: There is famous saying that, “Change is the only

unchangeable thing in nature” (Heller & Hindle, 2008). Similarly in our daily life things

are changing rapidly and we have to adopt ourselves to these changes. We can’t say that

we will remain in the same situation forever. We have to act according the situation.

Similarly there certain ups and downs in organizations as well. So the managers and

leaders adopt different styles for different situation. According to Whitcomb (2000),

some famous and widely recognized styles are:

a) Autocratic: In this style people are told what to do and how to do. They have no

role in decision making. Once made, a decision must not be questioned.

b) Democratic: In this style decisions are made on the views of as many people as

possible that are involved.

c) Passive: In this style people are given general directions on the tasks to be tackled

and then left alone to achieve them in the way they think is best.

d) Charismatic: In this style leader influences and motivates others because of

his/her outstanding personality or character.

As mentioned earlier, that these styles depend on certain situations and to be a good

leader/manager you would have to adopt all of them. All these styles of management and

leadership have certain impact on strategic decisions. The organizations led by Autocratic

leader are basically Task Oriented. According to Jenkins and Hamman (2001), the

advantage of such style is that the decisions are made quickly because people know

where they stand. But the employees in such organizations are not happy to some extent

because they have no role in decision making. As Barratt and Mottershead (2000) is of

the opinion that in Autocratic leadership the Work-force is not encouraged to think for

itself, and emphasis is more on quantity than quality.

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While the organizations led by Democratic leaders have proved good because they are

both Task oriented as well as Relationship oriented. But according to Barratt and

Mottershead (2000) the decision making process is slow and that can be dangerous.

And the organizations led by Passive style are Relationship oriented. And Marcousé

(2008) is of the view that this only occurs when the manager is very busy or very lazy or

has confidence on his/her team and knows what they are capable of. According to

Whitcomb (2000), Charismatic style of leadership is very rare but can be very successful

in the extent to which they can motivate others to do things to support them.

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AC(1.3): Evaluate how leadership styles can be adopted to different situations.

Leadership styles can be adopted according to the situations. For example; during a war a

commander has to make quick decisions (Brindley and Buckley, 2004), or in the case of a

natural disaster there is no time for suggestions from the people, so autocratic style will

be perfect. The bottom line is that for quick decision you should always go for the

Autocratic style. In the case of a Research and Development Organization, employees are

highly trained, skilled and professional people, so the style that best suits this situation is

Laissez-faire. Because employees know what they are doing and what are their goals.

And the situation that is the best candidate for Democratic style is a youth club planning

for their summer camp. They will have to take suggestions from all the persons involved

and then will make a decision. In this case the decision making process is slow but

effective at the end of the day.

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AC(2.1): Review the impact that selected theories of management and leadership

have on organizational strategy in your chosen organization .

Every single person on this earth is different. The difference may be in way of thinking,

analyzing something, working or implementing something. Along the course of life

humans made many theories about things around them, some of them were wrong and

some proved successful. Human are called the most superior species on planet earth and

this superiority is due to the fact that humans learn from their mistakes. So humans learnt

a lot from their mistakes and devised new theories. In this task we are going to focus our

attention on the different theories of leadership and management made during 19th and

20th century.

Theories of management and leadership: According to Morris (1999), “The first-rate

way of making a fool of oneself is to propose as new an approach tried and rejected by

earlier generations”. There are a lot of ways of doing something, some of them have been

tried before and some are not. So a successful manager always learns from the past

experiences and tries not to repeat the mistakes. The 20th century has seen many theories

of management applied to the organizations; some of them are described below.

a) The Classical School: According to Morris (1999), this approach is based on the

main purpose and the structure of the organization. The organization is just like a

machine, just feed the input and get the output. The role and position of every

individual is defined. People are supposed to do things as mentioned by the higher

level, human feelings are irrelevant.

b) Bureaucracy: The main emphasis is on the performance and duties of the

individuals. The duties of the all the individuals are fixed according to the area of

their expertise. And like Classical School theory, human feelings are irrelevant.

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c) Systems Theory: This theory was developed in 1950s and 1960s. The theory is

based on the working of a typical system. It takes certain input (raw material,

people) and transforms them through a process into output (organizational goals).

d) Human Relations Theory: This theory was developed in 1930s. The main theme

of this theory is the human relations. The Association of Business Executives in

Organizational Behavior mentioned that, “to understand and improve an

organization, you need to understand the people who work for it.”

e) Contemporary Theories: These theories are based upon the idea of sticking to the

key functions of the organization and puts emphasis on going towards excellence.

f) Contingency Theories: This theory emphasizes that there is no single particular

way of running an organization. Everything is dependent on the situations through

which the organization is passing by.

Impact on Tesco: Tesco is one of the leading organizations, with a vision of providing

people everything they need, under one roof at affordable price. Now we see the impact

of the selected theories of management on the strategy of Tesco. The impact of Classical

School theory on Tesco’s strategy is a bit disappointing because Tesco believes in

excellence with the help of its employees. So the Classical Theory is surely going to

inversely affect the strategy of Tesco. The Bureaucratic Theory’s impact is similar to the

Classic School Theory. But this approach is providing a helping hand in organizing the

overall working of the Tesco. But only defining the duties of the employees and

organizing them is not enough. The Tesco’s strategy is to run the organization in a

disciplined manner, keeping in mind the feelings of its employees. The impact of Human

Relation Theory on Tesco’s strategy is not good enough. It should be kept in mind that

this theory alone is not enough to provide any progress in long term. But the good thing

about it is that it takes into account the ideas of all the employees. The Contemporary and

Contingency Theories have a good impact on Tesco’s strategy. Both these theories are

leading Tesco towards excellence. Changing the style according to the situation and

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sticking to the overall performance is surely good enough for Tesco’s progress in long

term.

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AC(2.2): Create a leadership strategy that supports organizational direction in your

chosen organization.

We have seen the impact of different theories of management and leadership on the

strategy of Tesco. And we came to the conclusion that there is no single theory that can

support Tesco’s strategy. Everything depends on the situation of that organization in a

particular time frame. So in the case of Tesco the best strategy that supports

organizational direction is the Bureaucratic approach along with a flavor of Human

Relation theory. The Bureaucratic approach will be helpful in achieving the

organizational goals and keeping everything on track. It will also help Tesco to maintain

its day-to-day budgets in control and will make some serious profits for the organization.

The Human relation approach will take into account the feelings and needs of the staff

and the people attached with Tesco. It will ensure that the workforce is enjoying its time

working with Tesco and take their work to perfection. This new combination will be very

helpful in maintaining the discipline in the organization and will be very beneficial for

the employees. So the working and the progress of Tesco will be very smooth. The

people will be aware of their position and duty in Tesco and they will be free to work out

a plan for performing their duties efficiently. Although this new leadership strategy

seems a bit odd to many people but if it is implemented in its true spirit, it will be very

helpful.

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AC(3.1): Use appropriate methods to review current leadership requirements .

There are certain methods available for reviewing the leadership requirements. Some of

them are listed below.

Blake and Moulton’s Managerial grid: According to Mullins (2005), Blake and

Moulton’s Managerial grid is one of the several methods available for reviewing

leadership requirements. According to this method, all managerial and leadership styles

are reviewed on the basis of two main rules. 1. Concern for Results; and 2. Concern for

People. In the first case, manager diverts all its energy on the accomplishing of tasks in

given time. This is shown along the horizontal axis on the grid. While in second case,

employees and their needs are given importance. And this is represented along the

vertical axis of the grid. Barratt and Mottershead (2000) have narrated this grid as a

Matrix of managerial styles.

Figure: Blake and Moulton’s Managerial Grid

(Source: http://www.gridod.com/images/LeadershipGrid.jpg)

The numbers inside the grid indicate the degree of concern of the mangers. For example;

managers with a rating of (9,1) practice Autocratic style because they show little concern

for the employees. On the other hand, a rating of (1,9) depicts the behavior of a

Democratic manager. It is also referred as “Country Club” management by some authors.

According to my research and findings, the management style of Tesco, on the basis of

Blake and Moulton’s managerial grid, should be rated as (7,5).

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360° Feedback:

According to Mullins (2005), “The idea of 360° feedback involves an appraisal and

feedback from different groups within the work situation – peers and subordinates as well

as bosses, and possibly internal and external customers.” The main purpose of the 360°

feedback is to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of an individual or an organization.

It may include a self-assessment questionnaire. This feedback helps in overcoming the

weaknesses and exploiting the strengths of the organization.

Figure: Mulins’s 360 Degree Feedback Cycle

Source: http://recordtracker.net/images/pic_360.gif

MBO (Management by Objective): Another common approach in reviewing leadership

and management styles is Management by Objectives commonly known as MBO.

According to Mullins (2005, p. 249), MBO is a system of management which is aimed at

relating the organizational goals to individual performances and development through the

involvement of all levels of management. While Morris (1999), is of the view that the top

manager should set an overall objective, and should convey it to the lower management

for completion. MBO is potentially an attractive system. It provides an opportunity for

staff to accept greater responsibility and to make a higher level of personal contribution.

{Mullins (2005)}

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Source: http://leapcomp.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/mbo-process-cycle2.gif

Mc. Gregory’s Theory X and Theory Y: The figure defines both the theories in detail.

The bottom line is that Theory X is Task oriented and Theory Y is Relationship oriented.

Source: http://www.vectorstudy.com/management_theories/img/theory_x_y.gif

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AC(3.2): Plan for the development of future situations requiring leadership .

A good leader is always prepared for the any kind of challenge. He acts quickly and

accurately according to the given situation. We can say that a good leader takes the right

decision at the right time. I have listed a couple of future situations here that will require

a firm leadership.

Conflict Resolution: You cannot stop conflicts from occurring between individuals and

organizations. Sometimes these conflicts are useful and sometimes they are not. When I

say useful, it means that sometimes new ideas are created from these conflicts. Or these

conflicts point to a deficiency or a week point in the management of the organization. So

they are helpful in pinpointing the lapses. On the other hand sometime these conflicts

leave a bad impression. Whatever the reason is, conflicts should be resolved smoothly. So

for the purpose of conflict resolution a leader should be there with a remedy. And it is

then up to the leader to resolve that conflict in any way he likes; whether by choosing

Autocratic style or by Democratic style.

Merger and Acquisition: Another most important situation for an organization is merger

or acquisition. It’s a really very difficult decision. You have to be very accurate in your

calculations and should have a good insight of market trends. A leader with a vision and

deep thinking is essential in this case. Either you are going for merger or going for

acquisition, you should be able to foresee the state of your employees and organization in

coming years.

Recession: A couple of years ago there was no concept of recession on a large scale. But

now many of the world’s most popular economies are facing difficult times. Now-a-days

recession has become a worst nightmare for many people around the globe. And

according to the economist it is the only chance for organizations to control their budget.

So for recession there should be a strong leader with a clear cut policy. This is the worst

case scenario and a true test of a leadership that how it overcomes recession.

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Adaptation for change in technology, taste and performance: Change is the

unchangeable law of nature. And adaptation for change is very difficult for certain

organizations and it may be due to many factors. One of the key factors is that many old

employees don’t welcome change because they are used to work in old fashion and any

change in technology, taste and performance is a bit difficult for them. So a sincere

leadership is required for any change to become successful in organization, a leadership

that is able to remove the ambiguities from the minds of all employees about the nature of

the change.

Natural Disaster: Another very important situation that requires a leadership is a natural

disaster. During the period of a natural disaster many employees and organizations are in

a state of ambiguity. They are unable to perform their duties efficiently. That’s why a

firm and dedicated leadership is required, that is capable of overcoming the difficulties,

and is capable enough to restore the confidence of the employees and organization.

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AC(4.1): Plan the development of leadership skills for a specific requirement .

There are certain skills that every leadership should possess. True leaders have these

skills in their genes and others adopt them during the course of their life. But one thing is

certain that these skills are present in all the great leaders of the world. The possession of

these qualities is not enough; a good leader should be able to develop these skills and to

be able to apply them in accordance with the requirement. A good leader possesses the

right skills and uses them in the behavior that best suits the current situation. The main

skill of a leader is its influence. A good leader always uses its influence on its followers

to obtain the best results. Inspiration can bring huge changes in organizations. So a good

leader should always try to develop and enhance its influence by empowering its

employees. So this skill can be developed by self-help by learning from mistakes. A good

leader should have good communication skills. He should be able to communicate easily

with his team members. Now-a-days the world is becoming a global village and to

become a good leader, one has to be able to understand the feelings of others. So a leader

should practice more and more to master this skill. A good leader should always be

adaptable to change. He should have a vision and he should try to introduce modern ways

of getting things done. He should encourage his staff to use new technology and new

techniques for their routine work. He should be confident and determined in his vision.

So he should arrange seminars and workshops to convey his vision to his followers. A

good leader should be unbiased; he should be able to manage diversity within an

organization. He should be role model for all the employees from any origin. He should

be punctual and honest. It’s only through his own punctuality that he can maintain

discipline in the organization. A good leader should be able to communicate the policy

and regulations of the organization to every single employee. And that can only happen

when he first exercises them himself before communicating to others. He should be able

to expand the organization in all ways possible. He should be able to appoint new staff

and train the old staff according to the new technology. He should arrange training

courses and other developmental activities for his company. He should also use his

powers to keep the organizations on track. And most importantly he should use his power

of rewarding for winning the heart of his employees. He should be a good speaker so that

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in any situation he is able to explain the position of organization in an effective manner.

A good leader should possess good coordination skills for maintaining the integrity

between different departments of the organization. Discipline should be the main thing

for a leader and there should be no excuse for it. Because it is the main factor that can

change the fate of the organization. A good leader should be honest and well-wisher of its

people. He should stick to his commitments and promises. A leader should be a good

listener; it helps him in overcoming the weaknesses of the organization and sometimes

gives him a chance to grab some new ideas as well.

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AC(4.2): Report on the usefulness of methods used to plan the development of

leadership skills .

There are certain methods that we can use to plan the development of leadership skills.

One of the best methods is to call a meeting of the staff and ask about their ideas. The

best method, however, is 360° feedback. It helps you in understanding your exact

position in organization. Another widely used method is to gather as much information as

you can about the life of great leaders. It will help you in adopting their skills and their

secrets of the trade. Another way of developing leadership skills is to get familiar with

your followers. It will help you in understanding their feelings and their needs, which in

turn will help you in managing their needs. So we used different plans for the

development of leadership skills including; seminars, meetings, training courses, self-

help, learning from mistakes and a lot others. All these methods are very useful to plan

the development of leadership skills. Seminars and workshops are very helpful in

understanding the point of view of other people. Training courses help in understanding

and overcoming new challenges. These courses help organizations to implement effective

ways of getting things done. They also help in creating a learning environment in an

organization. Meetings should be arranged regularly; this will help a leader in developing

his communication and coordination skills. Another very important method is exchange

visits. These are very helpful in developing leadership skills. These visits may be

between different sections of the same organization or between different organizations.

These are very helpful in developing the leadership skill of managing diversity.

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References:

Barratt, Mottershead. (2000), Business Studies, Italy, G. Cannale & C. S. p. A Borgano T.

se – Turin.

Brindley, Buckley. (2004), Business Studies, A-Level Study Guide, Hants, Ashford Color

Press, Gasport, Hants: Pearson Education Limited.

Business Management Study Manual, The Association of Business Executives.

Heller, Hindle (2008), Essential Manager’s Manual, London: A Penguin Company

Marcousé, Surridge and Gillespie (2008), Business Studies for A Level, Third edition,

Italy: Hodder Education.

Morris, M.J. (1999), The First Time Manager, 2nd Edition, London: Clays Ltd, St Ives

plc.

Mullins, L. (2005), Management and Organizational Behaviour, 7th Edition, Essex;

Pearson Education Ltd.

The Association of Business Executives, Organizational Behaviour

Whitcomb, A. (2000), Comprehensive Business Studies, 5th Edition, Essex: Pearson

Education Limited.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=sl (Accessed on 13th

October, 2010)

http://www.Tesco.co.uk (Accessed on 13th October, 2010)

http://top7business.com/?id=2113 by Akhil Shahani (Accessed on 20th October, 2010)

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Jenkins, Hamman (2001), GCSE Business Studies, Italy: Hodder and Stoughton

Educational

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn (2002), Organizational Behavior, 7th Edition, USA: John

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http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/research/LeadershipStrategy.pdf (Accessed on 13th

October, 2010)

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http://www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=sl (Accessed on 13th

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