Discussion
Leadership is an important tool that managers have to look after for managing the employees of the organization. The leader is responsible for looking after the needs and wants of their employees and providing them assistance accordingly (Shaturaev and Bekimbetova 2021). The manager of FirtFlop prefers to follow a transformational style of leadership. The manager focuses on providing motivation both in terms of monetary and non-monetary benefits so that the employees put greater emphasis and bring out the best possible output. This helps the employees to work freely without any pressure and increase the positivity within the internal environment of the organization (Gandolfi and Stone 2018). Thus, the FitFlop manager has effectively acknowledged his leadership skills that have a major impact on the total production of the company.
The FitFlop manager focuses on providing a transformational style of leadership by motivating them as per the requirements. The manager focuses on a two-way communication process where the employees have to put forward their ideas in the decision-making process. This provided a sense of belongingness in the minds of the employees and resulted in boosting their morale for better production.
The key leadership factors that the managers of FitFlop possess are as follows:
Communication is one of the most important factors that every manager and the top-level management focuses on improving on a daily basis. The management always focuses on having two-way communication between the different levels of management. Effective communication helps in reducing the queries of the subordinates on a daily basis (Daniëls, Hondeghem and Dochy 2019). The manager expects that each and every employee of the organization are aware of their own roles and responsibilities. This results in covering up the gap in production by another employee in case of any unforeseen consequences.
The manager of FitFlop has a tendency to organize team meetings on a weekly basis so that the subordinates are well aware of the needs and wants of the external environment. He wants each and every employee of the organization to put forward their ideas and viewpoints in every crucial decision-making situation. The managers had to plan and strategize some of the unique intonational techniques to the market to attract new clients in the external environment and retain their existing clients (Oc 2018). Thus, the inputs of the team members are equally important at every level of management as they are the main assets for the organization who come in direct interaction with the end customers. This helps the managers to make crucial decisions and work collaboratively with the team members for effective monthly production. Thus, effective communication within the internal environment of the organization is very much important for the smooth functioning of the company.
Effective Communication
Communication has already made a greater impact towards increasing the positivity within the internal environment of the organization. Still, there are perks and benefits that the employees are eligible to get while working for the organizations. These might be in the form of monetary benefits or providing discounts and gift coupons to the employees (Leithwood, Harris and Hopkins 2020). This act as an internal motivation factor within the employees of the organization, which helps in boosting their morale to give better production. FitFlop has been well-known for the innovative strategies that the managers bring into the system for keeping the employees and the customer satisfied. This has helped them in attracting new clients and retaining their loyal customer base. Gradually the level of employee retention has also shown an increasing figure compared to the last five years report.
The most important benefit that the employees of the organization are provided is the availability of the shoes at discounted rates. The employees are provided with a free pair of shoes as their welcome bonus to the organization every year. The employees are also eligible to get 50% off ten pairs of shoes twice a year. Even also the employees of FitFlop have access to the sample sales on a priority basis each and every year (Hartley 2018). This results in increasing the willingness of the employees to work more for the organization and put out their level of stress.
The employees have also provided a key term to the brand as “Pearce”. It has been found that the employees are free to communicate with different levels of management without any hesitation, and everyone has friendly behaviour within the internal environment of the organization. Thus, the employees are working freely while loving the company, and the manager provides continuous assistance with several innovative perks and benefits to keep the employees motivated.
Walking around the world is another type of leadership strategy that has been established by the manager of FitFlop, focusing on the benefits of the employees. The main idea behind the program is to minimize the negative impacts that are caused due to sitting and working for the whole day in front of a system. This leads to increasing the stress level of the employee as the employee ash to work the same function on a daily (Rudolph, Rauvola and Zacher 2018). This leads to a monotonous job altogether.
The manager has formed 19 teams with a strength of nice to eleven members in each of the teams. The employees were responsible for walking the distance between the company’s UK site to the offices located in the Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. Every employee was allocated with a different roadmap that they had to perform on their roster basis. The employee was responsible for crossing all the global operating sites, which are located in the US, China, Hong Kong, and Germany. Finally, the winning team was allocated an extra holiday to each of them. This resulted in the employees maintaining their physical fitness and engaging themselves in some entertainment facilities, which ultimately had a holiday benefit attached with the results (Al Khajeh 2018). Thus, the employee was able to perfectly have a work-life balance which is also an important factor for their career development.
Living and Breathing the Brand
Finally, the employee was also able to come in contact with the employees in other branches who they had never met before while working. This result in exchanging their viewpoints amongst each other that are related to the corporate happenings and team outings.
The “Feel good champion program” was mainly launched by the top management of FitFlop to ensure that there is effective two-way communication among the different levels of management. The main focus was kept on maintaining the physical health and fitness of the employees of the organization (Cheong et al. 2019). The employees were provided proper training to educate themselves about the necessary steps for taking care of their health from the unforeseen occurrence within the internal environment of the organization.
In the initial stages, the manager had to look after the physical health and fitness of the subordinates. Gradually, the employees were also taken into consideration for actively taking part in the program. As per the recent standings, the team has a total strength of ten members along with the manager and has been successful with the processing of the event.
The company won Best global benefits at the Employee Benefits Awards in June 2018, which has been one of the unique achievements for the organization to date. The main uniqueness of the program is that the managers had successfully conducted the whole program at a very low investment (Moldoveanu and Narayandas 2019). This had also finally led to the interaction on a global basis between the employees of the organization.
The “Time to Talk Day” program has been organized by the top management to involve the employees in an interactive session with the top management. The main idea behind the program is to insist the employees actively take part in the session and express their views to the target audience regarding the marketing strategies of the company (Herron 2021). This interactive session with the top management helped the employees to be aware of their own roles and responsibility and made the customers aware of the strategies that the company has been incorporating.
The top-level management always focuses on providing assistance to the needs and wants of the employees. Motivational plays a crucial role in increasing the total production of the organization. This helps the employee in boosting their morale and giving effective output on a daily basis (Mahmoud et al. 2020). The manager of FitFlop has scheduled some of the monetary and non-monetary benefits to the employees on a monthly basis to keep the employees motivated within the due course of time. The monetary benefits include incentives for working more extra hours at times of emergency. On the contrary, non-monetary benefits include providing gift coupons and discounts to the employees while availing the products of the organization (Manganelli et al. 2018).
Walking Around the World
The managers have a mindset in fulfilling the needs and want of the employees on a priority basis. The employees are one of the important assets of the organization.
These were some of the unique innovations that have been incorporated by the top management and the leaders of FitFlop for maintaining the motivation of the employees while working for the organization. Thus, the employees are able to communicate freely with the top management in case of any queries or requirements and are also responsible for taking an active part in the decision-making process of the organization.
The contingency theory of leadership is considered as one of the effective theories of leadership that enhance the effectiveness of the leaders in terms of the contingent. According to the approach of this theory, the leadership style is basically suited for a particular situation (Vidal et al. 2017). Based on this fact, it can be stated that the leaders of Fitflop can be effective leaders in any particular circumstances wherein the other leaders can be appeared ineffective.
As per the scenario of the case, it can be stated that the approach of the Situational leadership Theory can be fruitful in this regard as it is recommended that multiple styles of leadership be in accordance with the situation (Meier 2016). Based on this fact, it can be suggested that Fitflop needs to hire more situational leaders as they consist of the flexibility for adapting to the good prospects for their organisation. Apart from that, being situational leaders, they can get a different style of leadership in order to handle the situation in an effective manner as per their leadership skills. It is noteworthy that by doing that, Fitflop can increase the enhancement of their productivity along with beating uncertainty and ambiguity at the same time.
In accordance with the case scenario, it can be stated that the approach of the Transformational leadership theory can be applied in this situation (Korejan and Shahbazi 2016). As such, as per the concerned theory, the leaders of Fitflop work with the followers or the teams beyond the immediate interest of self in order to identify the required changes. Hereby creating the vision, the guide can be done through inspiration, execution and influence in tandem with the committed group members.
Considering the scenario of the case, it can be stated that Schein’s Model of the organisational culture can be considered a method that tends to explain the concept of culture as well as they it affects the organisation (Daher 2016). The concerned model can be considered as a model of group dynamics as well as learning. Taking into account the scenario of Fitflop, it can be stated that the hierarchical department of the organisation can consider the concerned model following which they can follow the fundamental assumptions in order to shape values as well as shape the behaviour and the practices of their employees.
Feel Good Champions Program
Here, considering the stage ‘Artifacts’, the hierarchical department of Fitflop can mark the surface of its organisational culture. However, from a personal standpoint, the language and the physical artifacts can be focused on following this model. In terms of stage ‘Values’, the basic assumption can be compared at a high level of consciousness through which the employees can share their personal opinion (Mamatha and Geetanjali 2020). This value helps Fitflop to classify the actions and the situations in a desirable and undesirable manner. In addition to the last stage, ‘basic assumptions’, the hierarchical department of Fitflop needs to take belief to be granted as a fact for overcoming the challenges. However, it is recommended that the patterns of the fundamental assumptions need to evolve among its employees and make the core of Fitflop’s organisational culture (Matkó and Takács 2017).
In accordance with the scenario of the case study, the Handy Model can be applied here. According to this model, four types of organisational culture exist in an organisation such as power, task culture, person culture and role culture (Hiršová, Komárková and Pirožek 2018). In ‘Power’, the power of the organisation remains in the hands of the individuals who are authorised for making the decisions. Herein, the authority of Fitflop needs to hire the most appropriate in their workplace for enriching the key decision making. In regard to the ‘Task Culture’, the hierarchical department of Fitflop needs to form the achieving the target as well as solve the critical problems following the task culture.
According to the ‘Person Culture, the employees of Fitflop needs to feel their significant than their organisation. It is expected that by following the personal culture, the employees can feel more concerned regarding themselves rather than their organisation. In addition, the ‘Role Culture’ refers to the delegated responsibilities and roles as per the specialisation of the employees.
The concept of change management is considered as familiar in a large base of today’s business (Hussain et al. 2018). As per the scenario of the case, it has been understood that the change management of Fitflop depends enormously in accordance with their business nature. On that note, the hierarchical department of Fitflop needs to implement Lewin’s change management model wherein, looking at the method of distinct stages, they can prepare themselves in managing the transition of the case.
Here in the first stage, ‘Unfreeze,’ the changes of Fitflop can involve organisational preparation in order to accept the necessity. As such, by involving the breakdown of the existing status quo, the organisation can build up their new operational way. On the other hand, in the second stage, ‘Change’, the transition of the change can resolve the uncertainty as well as looking for new ways. In the stage ‘Refreeze’, the changes of Fitflop need to take shaping as well as embrace their employees at the same time. It is noteworthy that the outward signs of the refreezing stage can have appeared as a stable chart of the organisation, along with performing better for the employees in a consistent manner.
Time to Talk Day Program
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded from the above analysis that the leaders of FitFlop follow a transformational leadership style of leadership within the organization. The leaders mainly focus on providing perks and benefits to the employees of the organization, which helps in boosting their morale to work for extra hours for better production. Motivation has been one of the key factors that have led to the employees working freely within the organization. The manager also believes that there must be effective communication with the different levels of management so that the employees are able to interact directly with the top management at times of queries. The employees are always expected to come up with their views and ideas as they also play a crucial role in the decision-making process of the organizations. This helps the employees to insist on a sense of belongingness among themselves, and they feel like a crucial part of the organization’s wellbeing. The managers also come up with innovative programs which are being organized to maintain the physical fitness of the employees so that they are not getting affected by unforeseen accidents within the workplace. Thus, motivation through perks and benefits and effective communication among the management are some of the key factors that the managers play in FitFlop.
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