Leadership and management
Wal- Mart is one of the biggest American multinational retail companies which operate its activities in the chain of hypermarkets, discount stores ad grocery stores. Headquarter of the company is in Bentonville, Arkansas. Wal- Mart was established by Sam Walton in 1962 and it is incorporated on October 31, 1969. So, the discussion will be made on the the leadership concept of Wal – Mart (Walmart, 2018).
To achieve success in the competitive market, it is necessary to have effective leader in the workplace. If effective leader is there in the workplace then it can be easy for the company to accomplish the set targets and goals in the competitive market.
It has been observed that in Wal – Mart, transformational leadership is considered as Mr. Sam Walton, the founder of the company was a visionary and also transformational leader. There are many ways which has contributed towards the overall success of the company. It has been analyzed that in Wal – Mart. Store the managers and directors visit the outlet and this has changed the working pattern of the stores (Rao, 2018).
The recent CEO, Mike Duke visited the store in china. When Mike visited the stores he discovered that the company is not stocking the local banana which is considered as a cheaper item than the imported ones. So, in this context immediate actions were taken and this has impacted the overall sales of the company. By his visit, the employees are also motivated as he has one of the best qualities related to motivating the people towards their work. The visit by him has a chance to the employees to meet the top management and to share their views with him. So, according to the transformational leadership style is the style in which the leaders work with the employees to manage the change. So, the example stated is one of the best examples in context to Wal – Mart Company. Also, the positive behavior and confidence towards the employees has boosted the culture of the company (Murnieks et al., 2016).
Transformational leadership style is important in context to the overall activities of the management. It has been observed that the leaders of the company considered the transformational leadership which also boosts the overall working structure of the employees in the workplace (McCarthy, Sammon and Murphy, 2017).
It has been observed that to build the leadership pipeline is also one of the approaches that focused on the overall management of the company. In this the main aim of Duke is to select and develop new leaders who have the talent to implement his vision and to re-create the success of the company in the growing markets like China and India. This has transformed the overall activities of the management by creating the leaders at various levels and also they ensured that the organization is able to enhance its operations under the leaders which are appointed in the company. Also, with this the employees have the leaders who can guide the employees and through this it can be now easy for them to attain the set targets (Ward, 2016).
Qualities, characteristics and behavior of the leader by considering the leadership style
The management style considered by the company is transformational in which the leaders participate with the employees to analyze the change and also to create vision to guide the overall change with inspiration. So, the leaders take active participation towards the overall activities of the company. So, this style of management has boosted the overall working structure of the company and helped to enhance their efficiency towards the work which can lead to success in the highly competitive market (Donohoe and Kelloway, 2016).
The leadership considered by the company is transformational leadership style and it has been observed that transformational leaders have the power or authority to inspire the followers.
It has been seen that the leaders in Wal – Mart focuses on motivating the employees as they have the authority and power to boost the overall motivation of the employees. It can be observed that they focus on positive development of the followers. The company considers Herzberg two factor theory in the workplace. It has been observed that the basic assumption related to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are opposite in relation to the single satisfaction spectrum. It has been stated that basic principles are considered by the company. Wal – Mart introduced the minimum wage and they raised it to $9 per hour. But it has dissatisfied the employees who are senior as the new employees are getting high wages. So, many senior employees are not satisfied with the decision of management (Smetana, Rogers and Welfel, 2017). So, by seeing the overall situation the company focused on the pay raise enacted in the second fiscal quarter of 2015. The company also analyzed the increase in the dissatisfaction of the senior employee and also decrease in the senior satisfaction of the employees and it also enhanced the issue related to decrease the stick valuation and operating income. So, on 10th January the company declared the annual pay increase for the employees already earning more than $10 hour and 2% lump sum payment was given to the senior employees who are above their maximum pay (Behavioral finance, 2018). So, this process motivated the employees and through this they are able to give their best towards the overall activities of the company. So, the leaders considered their transformational leadership style and with their authority they enhanced the pay of the senior employees in the workplace.
Also, with the authority there is proper distribution of work in the workplace. The leaders focused on engaging the employees towards the assigned activities. To enhance the engagement level of the workers, the leader focused on the motivational theory related to Herzberg motivation factor which satisfy the needs of the employees in the workplace (Stryker and Stryker, 2017).
In the workplace, the leaders delegated the work to the workers and by taking accurate decisions the politics of the workplace has been reduced by the workers. The transformational leadership style considered by the management engage the employees in taking right decisions related to change in the workplace but leaders do not interfere in the opinion of the employees in different prospective. The leaders offer equal chance to the employees in the workplace and due to this the favoritism in the workplace is not entertained. The leaders do not consider the office politics of the workers and also the power which is considered by the company is referent in which the employees are free to give their suggestions in context to the overall activities of the management (Desbrow, 2018).
Importance of leadership style as a part of management and the management style
So, the authority by the leader is used in a proper manner which reduces the negative impact on the employees. The platform is given by the leaders to give their suggestions in context to change that should be made in the workplace as it will also boost the confidence level of the employees and help them to create their interest towards the activities of the company (Leuprecht and Sokolsky, 2015).
It has been observed that by considering the transformational leadership style in the workplace by the leaders has maintained the overall culture of the company. The transformational leadership considered by the leaders states the equal involvement of the employees in the change process which is taking place in the workplace. By engaging the employees in the activities of the company, the leaders created positive behavior of the employees and also they motivated the employees to consider the right decision which is beneficial for the company (Tourish, 2014). The leaders ensured that each and every employee in the workplace should have equal chance to share their views and also by considering the management style they focused on maintaining the channel of communication. In the workplace it is necessary for the employees to follow channel of communication as it can help in considering the right decisions related to change in the workplace (Dinkmeyer and Eckstein, 2015).
To maintain the organizational culture the company focused on offering pay according to the experience and qualification of the employees. They considered this approach so that it can be easy to motivate the employees and also with this positive behavior of the employees towards the activities can be boosted. The approach considered by the company reduced the workplace politics and also they exercise their power in the right direction which is beneficial for the company and fro its employees (Doh and Quigley, 2014).
To maintain the organizational effectiveness the company also focused on considering the approach related to low price. It has been seen that Wal- mart focused on the approach related to “every day with the low prices”. In this approach the company focused on creating the principles and procedures which will help in maintaining the goals of the company (Rarick et al., 2018). The prices are kept are low as it can help in boosting the sales and profits of the company in the competitive market. The strategy considered by Sam Walton to keep the price slow has helped the company to achieve the competitive advantage in the market. Also, the leader was aware to keep the margin slimmer in relation to the competitors present in the market. The leader focused on maintaining the level of bargaining power which will help the company to remake the supply sector and also the retail landscape (Hyde, 2018).
Also, to boost the effectiveness the leaders considered the principle related to minimization of the operating costs. In this the leader, kept the control over the activities and also they focused on the continuing the old pickup truck and also they have the objective to share the budget hotel which can help the company in maintaining the overall competitive advantage in the market. So, the approach helped the company to achieve success in the market and also it help in maintaining the overall effectiveness of the company in the market (Dubey, 2018).
Power and Politics
Also, incentive procedure is one of the approaches which created positive mindset of the employees in the workplace and also boosted the overall culture of the company. In this it has been noted that the leaders offer incentives to the people according to their performance in the workplace. If the employees are performing good and achieving their targets then they are eligible to earn incentives in the workplace. It boosts the culture of the company and created positive attitude of the employees towards their work. So, it can be stated that the employees focused on maintaining the culture by giving their best towards the activities of the company and also they emphasized on achieving the set target in the workplace. Therefore, by considering these factors, the company focused on maintaining the organizational effectiveness and also the culture in the competitive market (Geer-Frazier, 2014).
Conclusion
So, it can be concluded that leadership and management should be maintained in the workplace. The Wal mart considered the transformational approach in which the leaders are engaged with the employees in relation to the change in the workplace. So, it can be stated that by considering the transformational leadership style the company emphasized on reducing the office politics and also helped in maintaining the culture and organization effectiveness in the workplace.
References
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