Assess the view that the changing context of management and organisations in the contemporary business environment makes the skills of management and leadership essential for a manager.
Introduction
Different organisations intend to improve both internal and external business environment. The role of leaders and managers in these organisations is in the limelight. For making different strategies and containing different management or leadership practices, there is a need to think bigger in this modern and dynamic business environment. With the passage of the time, trends of business have been changed, and the management of companies seems quite assertive to integrate with these new business trends. New business trends are big causes for a different business environment, which needs pertinent management and leadership intentions. Therefore, for the management, it seems imperative to concentrate on some strategic considerations to make the difference. Tesco company has integrated with the new business trends or environments, and accordingly, it has helped the managers shape their behaviour and skills in an effective and lucrative manner to gain and sustain the success.
The Company (TESCO)
Tesco is a multinational grocery company, based in the United Kingdom. The company is selling an immense range of consumer goods to customers through hypermarket, supermarket, and superstores. By profit, it is the third largest retailer in the world. The organisation operates in twelve countries, including Europe and Asia. The organisation was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen. The revenue of the company was £55,917 million in 2017. Remarkably, the company management or leadership has managed and maintained more than 476,000 employees in the different region. The effective integration of the business environment and skills has helped to retain the biggest range of employees along with prominent sustainability.
PESTLE Analysis of TESCO
Tesco Company has been triggered by the contemporary business environment. The management of this retail giant has derived some insights from the external business environment to make different decisions or take several actions on the management and leadership level.
Political
The political interventions in the retail business are quite visible. The government has imposed the value-added tax, which is increased (20%) on different products and services. It has affected operations such as sales of the company. Also, the government is also playing a role in the public health process, as the intention is to reduce the obesity; accordingly, the flat tax has been imposed on retailers. However, on the other hand, the political system of the country is stable, which allows the company to sustain different business operations (Dürr, 2004).
Economic
Economic factors have created an impact on the Tesco business and the management. Different economic factors such as financial crises and recovery, high economic growth rate and high GDP have contributed to the contemporary business environment. It increases the buying power of customers in this country, which enables the growth of the company as well.
Social
In this particular industry, people are quite assertive in adopting new things with the passage of the time. For Instance, people, coming from different cultures may have different perceptions about products and services regarding the quality and prices. The business environment is integrated with the cultural aspects, and the management of the company seems responsive. Different business strategies have been aligned with the contemporary business, which is linked to these social factors.
Technological
The technological aspect has contributed to the success of the Tesco business. For Instance, m in the retail industry, companies focus on the quality, efficiency, and cost reduction. The prominent step that this company has taken is the implementation of the integrated supply chain process. Also, to meet needs of customers in the market, online business considerations are also in the limelight. In both, internal and external business environment, the technology integration is good to contain the rapid operations and enhance the customer experiences.
Legal
Business rules and regulations are necessary to follow in the competitive retail industry of the United Kingdom. For Instance, when dealing with the financial services, the company management has to engage the financial services act (2012). The legal implications are affecting the company’s operations. However, to contain the long-term business sustainability, it seems pertinent to integrate with these legal implications in term of internal and external business practices, to be conducted by the management of the company.
Environmental
In several business operations, the Tesco management is committed to coming up with environmentally friendly activities. The contemporary business environment streamlines the green business initiatives to create a good impact on the environment and communities. Some appropriate actions that the company has taken are energy conservation and effective utilisation of the greenhouse gases (Dürr, 2004).
The impact of the changing environment on TESCO
The impact of the changing business environment is visible. Regarding structure, culture, organisation and teamwork, the impact is in the limelight. Tesco, being a big retail giant has adopted the change accordingly to these changing business trends.
Structure of TESCO
The first concept, which comes to the mind, is sense-making. The manager in Tesco Company senses everything around him, which enables him to contribute in the intelligence structuring (Clegg et al., 2015). Based on the business environment, the management intends to develop a structure, which can create some flexibility of spaces to make any changes with the passage of the time.
Culture of TESCO
The culture of the company is linking with the change in the business environment. For Instance, In Tesco, the company has made some changes in the culture for all internal key stakeholders. Linking with the contemporary business environment has helped the company to create a culture, which can enable the contemporary business outputs (Kalargyrou et al., 2015).
How work is organised
Obviously, in the company, there is a need to reshape the work processes. The management of the company is playing a role in the leadership and organising the work, which can help to derive some extraordinary outputs. The adaptation of new technology seems a good initiative to initiate the modern work process. Obviously, training process of employees is necessary for the company to justify this work organisation (Thompson, 2011).
Teamwork in TESCO
Making several teams in the company despite having the diversity is a good approach (Clegg et al., 2015). Tesco adopts the team building activities, which enables the sustainable quality and efficient operations. The best talent can help the company to emerge in the international markets as well, and therefore developing employees through teamwork is a good intention in this company.
Individuals relate to the organisation
The individual relates to the organisations through setting the individual targets at the workplace, and of course, it is effective for long-term work and employee sustainability. The company changes the values of employees, especially when dealing with generation (X) workforce. Individuals or employees are related to the company through the determinations or commitments regarding motivation. The purpose of the company is to retain employees and make future predictable (Clegg et al., 2015).
How is the changing environment impacting on the need for leadership and management skills?
The management and leadership skills are essential for a manager in Tesco Company. Based on the management and leadership style, there is a need to develop some skills, which can be aligned with the contemporary business environment.
Leadership skills
Motivating
Motivating people in the company is a prominent skill. Remarkably, Tesco leaders have used the organisational behavioural theory to derive insights regarding the employee insights and make different strategies to motivate them to attain theory personal and organisational goals. Motivating employee refers to the retention and sustainability of the best human capital in the company. Based on the behaviour, Tesco leaders have shaped some workforce, treats, which motivate them to produce or react, which can be triggered by the contemporary business. (Dürr, 2004).
Trustworthiness
The changing environment of the business is impacting the need for leadership trustworthiness, as it is another prominent skill. The theory of dual process comes into the life when illustrating the trustworthiness. In Tesco Company, the leader has to contain the trust despite having two different thoughts in the process. The skill of trustworthiness is good to eliminate the confusions in the process (Ganson, 2013).
Commitment
When containing transactional, transformational, and charismatic leadership approach in the company in the changing business environment, this is necessary to contain the commitment skills (Clegg et al., 2015). For Instance, to make changes regarding the changing environment, the commitments should be shown. The need of commitment has emerged for the leader to make promises to gain the success in the new business environment (Kalargyrou et al., 2015).
Flexibility
The modern business or changing business era needs the flexibility in leaders when they play the role or mentoring. The flexibility is all about creating some space for other people and adopt new trends. Dealing with complex people in the company develop the knowledge and improve the job, performance is linked to the theory of mentoring. Thus, to develop the new talent, which is a need of the modern business era in the retail industry, the flexibility, skill is needed and recommended (Karaszewski, 2008).
Delegating
Delegations are a prominent leadership skill, as the leader in the company just has to give the direction and delegate the rest. In Tesco, work delegation is necessary because industry requires the change through creativity and innovation. The contemporary business, changing environment, delegation, and theory Y can be aligned with Tesco Company. The leader can identify people, which can be empowered in the company to contain high quality, creative and innovative work. (Mencl et al., 2016).
Management skills
Adaptability
Adaptability is a key skill for a manager in the company. New trends in the retail industry are customer behaviour, customer services, buying patterns and perceptions. The management at Tesco has to adopt some new traits. For a manager in the company, it is necessary to make sense of attitudes, opinions, prejudices, and assumptions. The most important thing for the manager is to contain the information of value and perceive different things. By perceiving different values, the manager can adopt different things, which may also help in the negotiation process. (Clegg et al., 2015).
Critical thinking
The skill of critical thinking is necessary for the Tesco business process. For Instance, the manager contains the critical thinking through aligning with the content theory of motivation. When managing and controlling employees, the management has to think that a how changes in the needs contain the shift due to the change in the business environment. Self-fulfilling prophecy allows us to perceive ourselves. For instance, perceiving ourselves is important for the management, as it seems critical things for a different improvement (Clegg et al., 2015).
Decision making
Every manager at Tesco contains the decision-making skill. In different business processes, key decisions have been made by the managers in departments. For Instance, when making different teams or groups, the manager intends to contain the strong identification of every team. The most important thing is to make teams compete against each other to consolidate efforts and meet the goals of the company. It seems a decision-making process about the team, which is pertinent to gain an advantage (Clegg et al., 2015).
Communication
The communication skill is vital for the manager to communicate or share information with both, internal and external business stakeholders. The precise and clear communication has helped the Tesco managers to be assertive when conducting the change, based on the overall altering business atmosphere.
Team Building
The business needs the diversity, and it makes the team building skills essential for the manager in Tesco Company. When conducting team building activities in the company, the manager at Tesco looks to come up with the cultural integration, despite having different cultural values, the management can be able to build a team, which can work on the same agenda and meet the organisational goals. The perception of a manager is good, as he can identify the talent, which meets the needs of changing the business environment (Smith, 2016).
Differentiate between leadership and management skills
The big difference between the management and leadership skills is the longevity and sustainability of the new or changed environment of the business. Leader’s skill is for a long run, as it can provide long-term benefits. On the other hand and manager’s skills can be changed. Interestingly, both skills are aligned with the modern-day business environment. Another difference is the future mobility, which seems low in the leadership skills. Comparatively, the manager’s skills depict the future mobility due to the change in the business atmospheres. (Singh, 2013).
Leadership perspectives and skills
In the company, based on the perception of a leader, different styles of leadership can be adopted. For Instance, based on the employee behaviour, internal resources, and overall firm’s capabilities integrate with the external business change, the transformational leader can adopt some specific skills. The first skill, based on perception is leading to vulnerability. Remarkably, in Tesco, the leader is willing to be more vulnerable to contain a good sign of the transformational leadership. It is a fact that the business atmospheres due to technology changes and all other insights, derived from Pestle analysis, depicts a rapid shift. Thus, remarkably, the “focus” is a pertinent skill, which can help to lead and manage the change and innovation for better external integration (Clegg et al., 2015). Interestingly, the manager at Tesco, playing a role of leader, can enhance the visibility or managerial cognition to maintain his focus on change and innovation (Mencl et al., 2016).
Environmental impact on leadership skills and type
After choosing the transformational leadership in this organisation, the main strategic focus is the company is to be first to meet these business changes and gain and sustain the competitive advantage. Choosing the right skills or leadership type in the company is a good competency, and the contemporary business era is the main cause of it. There may be a need for improvements in management and leadership development if the management at Tesco adopts some new approaches due to the impact (Karaszewski, 2008).
New skills for all management levels
A new skill in the management of the company is triggered by four different aspects. For Instance, these four aspects are production, marketing, maintenance and finance. The management of the company should come with skill sets in these areas to contribute effectively. For a document controller in a project company, the maintenance skill seems good to learn because it brings the preciseness and efficiency. Interestingly, when maintaining or controlling documents, the manager must have to keep everything in the loop to the interstate with other departments such as marketing, production and finance (Clegg et al., 2015). Moreover, emotional intelligence can help managers to contain the emotional and sentimental attachments to both employees and customers. (Karaszewski, 2008).
Employee implications
The leader and manager’s skills adaptation has a direct impact on employees in the Tesco Company. For Instance, in the motivational theory X, the employee is to be motivated by pay, bonuses, and accordingly, collaborative and behavioural skills are to be executed. Conversely, the leader or manager can deal with theory y employees through the sense of appreciation and engagement. (Kalargyrou et al., 2015).
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that the business trends are changing and the change in the leadership and management skills looks adequate. The company, in the competitive retail industry, can gain the success and competitive advantage if it engages with the contemporary business approaches. The first step is to develop some skill, and through effective execution, the difference can be made. Overall, the skills development and execution enable the growth and sustainability of the modern business era, as Tesco Company is quite up to it.
References
Clegg, S.R., Kornberger, M. & Pitsis, T., 2015. Managing and Organizations: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. SAGE Publications.
Dürr, A., 2004. Business success in an international environment – Global leadership. GRIN Verlag.
Ganson, B., 2013. Management in Complex Environments: Questions for Leaders. Kombi Nation Sweden.
Kalargyrou, V., Pescosolido, A.T. & Kalargiros, E.A., 2015. Leadership Skills In Management Education. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal; Arden, 16(4), pp.39-63.
Karaszewski, R., 2008. Leadership in the Global Business Environment – Unwrapping the Japanese Approach. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika.
Mencl, J., Wefald, A.J. & van Ittersum, K.W., 2016. Transformational leader attributes interpersonal skills, engagement, and well-being. Leadership & Organization Development Journal; Bradford, 37(5), pp.635-57.
Singh, P., 2013. A Collegial Approach In Understanding Leadership As A Social Skill. The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online); Littleton, 12(5), p.489.
Smith, M.N., 2016. Tesco wants its managers to start saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to staff. [Online] Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/tesco-tells-managers-to-be-more-polite-to-staff-2016-3 [Accessed 20 February 2018].
Thompson, M., 2011. The Anywhere Leader: How to Lead and Succeed in Any Business Environment. John Wiley & Sons.
White, L., 2014. Military Leadership Lessons for Management Accountants. Strategic Finance; Montvale, 95(10), pp.21-22.