Impact Of Classical And Contemporary Management And Leadership Styles On Change Management And Strategies

Appraising and discussing the impact of classical and contemporary management and leadership styles

Carnall (2018) is of the opinion that classical and contemporary management and leadership styles play vital roles in the development of strategies in an organisation. This is mainly because the impact of these management as well as leadership styles is important for motivating employees as well as gaining the confidence of the employees. It has been seen that the classical and contemporary styles have its own application in the management of an organisation and for Walmart this can account for gaining success in the company and hope for the implementation of changes within the organisation.

As stated by Hayes (2018) changes need to be brought about by keeping in mind the effectiveness it may have on the performance of the employees. In this case, the application of classical style may have a serious negative impact on the minds of the employees. This is because the classical style deals adopts the autocratic style of leadership in which managers and leaders take decisions without concerning the employees over the decision that has been taken by them. This can also be related to the charismatic style of leadership as the presence of the leader determines success.

In the case of Walmart, the application of the classical style of management and leadership may bring about a negative impact on the mentality and the performance of the employees. The reason behind this is the fact the Walmart is a reputed organisation that is famous all over the world, therefore the changes made within the organisation need to be communicated with the employees so that the employees can input their ideas and be prepared of the expected outcomes (Walmart.com 2018). However, the application and adoption of a bureacratic style may create a sense of ego and power distance between the employees and the employers, which may be received in a negative manner particularly in countries that has a low power distance culture.

At the same time the strategies that are adopted while implementing the change or for the development of the organisation need to be run by the employees so that it may have a positive impact. As stated by Cameron and Green (2015) the employees of an organisation need to be provided with the liberty so their own knowledge about the application of a strategy can be implemented. However, the adoption of laissez faire leadership style may not be applicable for a company as it may provide excessive freedom to the employees. The managers of Walmart can consider addressing the ideas provided by the employees as a form of motivation but not provide them with the liberty to continue the work on their own.

This can help the company to continue to work in a proper manner and ensure that the loyalty of the employees is maintained. However, with the adoption of transformational style it can be difficult for the managers of Walmart to continue to provide encouragement to the employees so that they can remain loyal. A negative consequence of the transformational style adopted by Walmart can be seen from the fact that had failed to implement itself in the market of Korea, which is usually dominated with less power distance in the country. Hence, it can be said that the application of the classical style of leadership can be considered to have a negative impact on the progress of an organisation.

Evaluating both internal and external triggers of change

On the other hand, Saleem (2015) is of the opinion that the application of the contemporary leadership and management style is one of the sought after styles in a company. Most organisations value the goals and objectives of employees and try to align the goals and objectives of the organisation with the goals of the employees. This provides an extra motivational factor as employees feel valued in the organisation and therefore, the loyalty of the employees improves. This helps employees to motivate the employees more reduce the workload of the leaders as the employees take full responsibility of the task that is assigned to them. In the case of Walmart, the application of the democratic leadership can bring about a positive work environment within the company.

As stated by Keskes (2014) bringing about changes in an organisation is considered as an important strategy that needs to be undertaken by managers so that the fruitfulness of the organisation can be maintained. For Walmart, improvement in certain areas of the company like its branches in the Asian countries can be brought about with the application of the transactional style of management and leadership styles. Interaction between the employees and the employers is considered as an important aspect that needs to be done so that exchange of important information can take place within the company. Therefore, the application of the transactional style can help Walmart to continue its business process in the market and at the same time motivate the employees to remain loyal towards the organisation.

One of the advantages that Walmart can gain from the application of the contemporary or participative leadership style is the fact that it provides employees with an opportunity to be involved in the decision-making and at the same time provide freedom to the employees. Such application can help Walmart to continue its business in countries that it has failed in such as in Korea in which the company can provide freedom to the employees over the work by undertaking a more emotional intelligence approach. Such an impact can help Walmart to continue its business within the market and motivate employees so that they can continue to remain loyal to the company. As stated by Bolman and Deal (2017) the trait theory can help leaders and managers undergo various processes that help in undertaking a proper leadership style by analysing the successes and failures.

Therefore, the analysis of both the styles provides evidence about the different impact that leadership styles have on an organisation. It is recommended that Walmart follow the contemporary leadership and management style so that it can continue to develop strategies within the organisation with the consent and support of the employees. This can help the employees to remain motivated as well as remain loyal to the organisation.

Doppelt (2017) is of the opinion that changes in an organisation is brought about mainly to improve the working condition and improve the loyalty of the employees. At the same time certain factors triggers changes to be made in an organisation so that it can continue its business in the market. These changes triggers can be both internal as well as external and provides organisations with an opportunity to improve its current practice in the market. In the case of Walmart, the effectiveness of the internal and external changes can be analysed so that the organisation can be more successful.

Conducting stakeholder analysis to identify risks and manage them

The internal trigger of change that can affect Walmart is the introduction of mergers and acquisitions in the business. As stated by Kuipers et al. (2014) mergers and acquisitions are important as it can help in the growth of two different business selling complimentary products. This can provide Walmart with an opportunity to appeal to the varied customers around the world and help in the development of a strong customer base by analysing the demographic factors. Analysing the demographic factors can even help Walmart to rebuild from the failures it suffered in the markets of Asia. Hence, it can be said that analysis of demographic factors as well as mergers and acquisitions is an important internal change trigger, which helps in the development of the organisation.

At the same time, legislation plays an important role for the development of an organisation, as it needs to abide by the ethical rules of the country as well as the Government. In the case of Walmart, the legislative policies of the company need to change so that it can gain success in the markets of Korea and other Asian countries. The marketing strategy based on the product sold by the company need to meet the demand of the people as well as the legislation of the market so that the success of the company can be maintained.

Apart from the internal triggers, the external triggers also play an important role for the development of change in an organisation. In the case of Walmart, one of the external trigger of change that can be associated is the increase in the competition. It has been seen that the major competitors of Walmart in the market around the world includes Amazon, Aldi, Tesco and many more (Walmart.com 2018). Hence, it is important that the company adopt strategies that can help in the development of competitive advantage that can help Walmart to mitigate the threats from the competitions. Therefore, it can be said that business operations can be made to improve with the effects from the external triggers of change.

Apart from this, another external trigger of change is the low demand mainly due to the economic downturn of the people in the countries. This can be considered as an important external trigger mainly because it does not involve the foresight. The economic fall can bring about huge loss in Walmart as the products of the company tend to be expensive and the budget of the people during those times may not provide them with opportunities to seek any luxurious brands (Walmart.com 2018). Hence, it can be said that after analysing the external and internal triggers of change, a change management strategy can be developed for Walmart so that the company can reflect the interests of the stakeholders.

The change management strategy for combating the change in the market that need to be developed by Walmart, need to focus on the development of strategies to be successful in the Asian market. The manner in which it needs to change its organisational culture is one of the changes that need to be made. For this reason, it is essential that every functional area of the company take into consideration the interests of the stakeholders. Thereby the company can implement tools and techniques that can help in the development of change management within the organisation.

Evaluating the contribution of HRM practice on organizational performance

The implementation of a flowchart method can help Walmart to design a visual sketch of the change management plan that needs to be adopted by the organisation. The effectiveness of the flowchart is that once the change is being implemented in the organisation or the functional department it can be displayed and added to the flowchart for the view of the employees. As stated by Pugh (2016) the application of a proper change management strategy can help the company to improve its position in the market and at the same time bring about the efficiency of the employees.

For the implementation of changes in Walmart, the company need to send out memento to every department in the company so that resistance to changes can be maintained. The HR department of the company need to develop plans so that it can improve the organisational culture as well as behaviour of the employyes. To do so it is necessary that the company design a proper motivational plan by considering performance management so that every employee be appraised and rewarded based on the work done. Apart from this, the individuals and groups of the people need to be influenced by the people so that proper application of changes can be implemented in the organisations.

Another important tool that Walmart can implement is the analysis of the stakeholders and its competence in the development of the company. Walmart can the implement analysis of the stakeholders so that their powers and responsibilities can be taken into account. Conducting a force field analysis can help in the resistance of change as well in the organisation. In the case of the internal operations of the company, it is necessary that Walmart provide its employees with an opportunity by undertaking a performance measurement method to develop so that the market research undertaken by the company can improve (Goetsch and Davis 2014).

Hence, it can be said that identification of the internal and external triggers of change can help companies like Walmart to develop change management strategies so that it can continue to improve its business in the market. At the same time, development and maintaining record of the changes that are implemented via tools such as measuring the milestones and performance of the employees can help Walmart to remain competitive. This can provide Walmart with opportunities to satisfy the interests of the stakeholders and formulate plans that can help in the identification of any risks within the company.

Table: Stakeholder analysis

(Source: Created by author)

Human resource management practise has an important effect for the success of an organisation. As stated by Ceulemans, Lozano and Alonso-Almeida (2015) the contribution of human resource management can help organisations to understand the strategies that can help in its development and at the same time provide an analysis of the time required for gaining importance in the business. The performance of an organisation depends upon the choices of strategies made by the human resource management as it dictates the manner in which capabilities of the organisation can be managed.

Analyzing the impact of management and leadership styles on planned change

In the case of Walmart, it is important that the company relate its organisational performance with that of the human resource management that exists in the company. The link between the two needs to be provided based on the success of the company. However, as stated by Worley and Mohrman (2014) the changes applied in the organisation need to involve the employees so that it can help in its development. It has been seen that Walmart had tasted success in areas that have a low power distance and the cultural attribute of the organisation in the US matches with that of the cultural attributes followed in the expanded countries.

However, in the Asian countries the company had not been successful due to the difference in the cultural aspects. Therefore, the human resource management and the organisational performance of Walmart need to align it so that development of the company can take place within the market. For example, Walmart had managed to identify the success criteria required for the development of its strategies in the organisation. For example, adoption of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory for providing motivation to the employees can help in the development of the performance of the employees. This particular strategy was used by Walmart to ensure that its UK branch was as successful as the US branch mainly because of the motivation of the employees (Walmart.com 2018).

At the same time, it is also necessary for the development of knowledge within the organisation so that the performance of the employees can improve. It is important the Walmrt develop the skills of the employees in such a way so that they can be effective in the market. For this, it is necessary that the company implement training methods that can help in the development of skills among the employees. The human resource management develops these training methods so that it can help in aligning the organisational performance as expected from the employees. However, as stated by Anderson and Sun (2017) the knowledge that is to be imparted to the employees need to be managed so that confidential matters of the organisations are not provided.

The knowledge management strategy that is developed by Walmart can help in the improvement of the performance of the employees. This is mainly because the knowledge of the employees can be utilised to improve the current performance of the employees so that Walmart can improve the performance it have in the market. It has been seen that knowledge management strategies that are adopted by Walmart is mainly directed at the possibility of improving the rate of failures that the organisation had encountered. For example, during the quest of its expansion in the Asian countries Walmart had failed to gain the reputation it needed for success (Walmart.com 2018). Thereby knowledge about the cultural changes that are required for success in this market is necessary to be provided by the organisation.

Therefore, it can be said that Walmart knowledge management of the company can be aligned with the performance of the employees mainly due to the arrangement of the social impact that is made by the employees. One of the changes that need to be implemented in the organisation is the supply chain management of the company. The supply chain management can help in linking the human resource management as well as the organisational performance of Walmart so that the outsourcing of the employees as well as the products can take place (Walmart.com 2018). Outsourcing the employees need to be done after formulating the analysis of the cultural changes within the market.

The impact of outsourcing of services and products can help Walmart to develop a proper reputation in the international market. Yahaya and Ebrahim (2016) pointed out that the outsourcing and the integrated supply chain management of the organisation need to be made simultaneously so that opportunities of gaining profit can be increased. This can provide Walmart with an opportunity to develop its strategic impulse and help in the contribution of employees in the foreign market. Outsourcing can help in the development of ideas about the cultural implementations of the countries so that it can gain the required success in the market.

A proper supply chain management can help Walmart to continue with the development of the business so that it can identify and reach the potential customers that the company has targeted. Amanchukwu, Stanley and Ololube (2015) is of the opinion that without a proper supply chain management it can be difficult for organisations to transport its products from one place to another and therefore, lose out on opportunities for the development of a proper customer base. Hence, it is important that the supply chain of Walmart be developed so that the outsourcing of the employees can be done in an efficient manner.

Therefore, it can be said that human resource management and the organisational performance need to be related with one another so that it can help in the development of Walmart in the international market. At the same time, it is also necessary that the knowledge of the employees be managed so that performance can be improved. Walmart need to identify the gaps that exist between the cultures of the US with the other countries so that the company can expand in more countries around the world with a least chance of dealing with failures. Hence, it can be said that the decisions taken by the human resource management have a severe impact on the success of failure of Walmart.

As stated by Arnold et al. (2015) it is important that management and leadership styles be implemented in such a manner that it provides an effective change in the organisation. It is necessary that organisations maintain the best practise that can help it to maintain the changes that are implemented in the organisations. Every leadership style has its own impact for the development of changes within an organisation and the manner in which it can affect the functioning of the organisations. Hence, planned changes need to be maintained so that risks can be reduced in an organisation and at the same time control can be made within the organisation.

An example can be provided from the case of Nucor Steel, in which the company needed to ensure that the leadership and the management decisions that are undertaken by the company have a significant impact on the change that is implemented in the market. The planned changed management of Nucor Steel could be effective with the management and leadership styles that are adopted. In this case, relation can be made with the lack of control that was shown which resulted in the downfall of Nucor Steel and the strategy it had implemeted. As stated by Northouse (2018) it is necessary that organisations align its strategies with the leadership styles that are adopted in various departments of the organisation.

It has been seen that one of the biggest challenge that is faced by Walmart is the fact that management and leadership style need to be suitable for the development of the employees. Earlier analysis has shown that the application of the classical leadership style can bring about a negative impact for the organisation. This is mainly due to the lack of participation of the employees that in turn lead to the lack of motivation of the employees. Thereby implementing changes in the organisation without the consent of the employees may bring about a negative impact for the development of the organisation.

Fairhurst and Connaughton (2014) are of the opinion that it is necessary for organisations to maintain ethics so that every employee can be provided with an opportunity to gain fair amount of judgement and opportunity for development. The change management that need to be implemented in the organisations need to be based on ethical grounds so that every employee can continue its dominance in the organisation. In the case of Walmart, the company need to keep in mind the effectiveness of the ethics so that every individual around the world get proper exposure for success within the limits of the policies and procedures of the country.

The most popular form of leadership style that has been analysed is the contemporary style in which employees are valued in an organisation. The employers need to keep in mind the necessities of the organisation and the manner in which employees can help in its development. Therefore, the knowledge held by the employees can help in the development of tactics in an organisation and set about its success. The involvement of the employees is necessary so that the company can maintain the strategies that can help in earning profit. At the same time, it has been seen that the employees play a crucial role as the stakeholder of a company and any discrepancies from their part may lead to negative consequences in the company.

Therefore, an example can be provided in which a company like Toyota used the knowledge of the employees to ensure that it develops success in the organisation. This had helped the company to provide an analysis of the market and the internal capability of the organisation. As stated by Antonakis and Day (2017) Walmart need to ensure that the employees gain proper motivation so that it can implement its strategies in the market in a proper manner. At the same time, it is also necessary that the reputation of the company is maintained so that Walmart can continue .to grow and dominate the retail industry.

As stated by Doppelt (2017) the duty of the leaders is to ensure that the changes made in an organisation be communicated to the employees so that any type of hindrance does not take place while making the changes. It is necessary that the leaders of Walmart communicate the change strategy with the employees so that discrepancies over the acceptance of the changes are not made. At the same time, it is also necessary that the changes that have been implemented be made to stay for a lengthy period so that Walmart can gain maximum benefit from its implementation. Thereby the effectiveness of a suitable leadership style can help Walmart to achieve success in the business market.

The application of the contemporary leadership style can help in dealing with the planned changes that are implemented by Walmart. It is necessary that the management of Walmart provide an analysis of the factors that can help in the implementation of the changes within the department. Every functioning department of the organisation need to adopt the contemporary leadership style so that it can provide the required analysis for the implementation of changes in an organisation. Therefore, it can be said that for Walmart to be successful in the areas in which they have failed the company needs to adopt the most popular form of leadership strategy so that it can continue to develop its market and the ensure that same mistakes are repeated again.

Pugh (2016) is of the opinion that it is necessary for a company to implement the best strategies so that even with the implementation of changes it can provide employees with an opportunity to remain the best in the business. The internal capability of the organisations can be developed by identifying the strength of the leaders and the manner in which the changes can help its development. In the case of Walmart, the organisation needs to ensure that the adaptation of the contemporary leadership style can be spread across the different departments so that the overall application of Walmart can be managed. Therefore, it can be said that such application need to be provided that can help in the development of the company and at the same time analyse the capabilities of the employees.

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