Answer :

DBN508 Assessment 1

Word count: 1734

Reference Style: APA

Case 1: Fujitsu New Zealand – Empowering people in the workplace

Question 1

a) Analyse TWO important aspects of leadership

Workforce diversity:

Workforce diversity is one of the major aspects of leadership that can be applied in Fujitsu New Zealand in order to encourage and motivate employees towards delivering a high level of performance in the organization, contributing to the further improvement in productivity and performance of business (Eagly & Johannesen‐Schmidt, 2001). From the given case scenario, it is found that the particular organization is committed to maintaining diversity at the workplace, where each associated to the workforce is given equal opportunities, regardless of their age, sexual orientation, gender, ethnic background, religion and disabilities. Maintaining diversity in the organization can facilitate the leaders to nurture talent, motivate and mentor people, creating a significant impact on the performance of Fujitsu New Zealand. 

Employee motivation:

As analyzed by Dulewicz & Higgs (2005), one of the key functions of leaders is to motivate employees to develop their confidence level to such extent that can enhance the ability of the workforce to produce an effective solution to the critical problems. In the given context, Fujitsu New Zealand can focus on employee motivation program through which they can improve employees’ performance level, contributing to the organizational performance to a great extent. Employee motivation plays a significant role in the development and growth of skills of employees, required for Fujitsu’s continuous growth in New Zealand. 

b) THREE characteristics of democratic leadership

Jo Healey, the Managing Director of Fujitsu New Zealand, can utilize democratic leadership style in the organization in order to maintain high employee motivation, contributing to the overall performance of the business in the changing market environment. Three major characteristics of democratic leadership that could facilitate Healey to enhance business performance include empowerment of team members, a delegation of responsibilities, and the enhancement of decision-making process (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt & Van Engen, 2003). A democratic leader is expected to delegate responsibility among employees to enable them taking active participation in the decision-making process. In the given context, democratic leadership could facilitate Healey to allow group members to share their views during the decision-making process, based on which the organization can successfully overcome any uncertainties that external business environment often offers to the companies. The empowerment of the employees is another significant function of a democratic leader that could improve employee productivity, contributing to the business performance of Fujitsu in New Zealand (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013). Democratic leadership style also can help Jo Healey to assist the entire process of group decision-making, resulting in effective decisions being taken during the critical situation in business.  

Question 2

FIVE types of power of leaders

Five types of power that Jo Healey can apply in Fujitsu New Zealand to enhance organizational performance largely include legitimate role position, reward, coercive, expert and referent (Yahaya & Ebrahim, 2016). Legitimate power is based on the specific situation. For example, Jo Healey possesses a higher position in Fujitsu New Zealand, indicating that she has the power and right to control employees’ functions or activities in the workplace. However, this power could create negative impacts on employees’ mind and motivation level if Healey makes any arrogant demands or request to employees. It is important for Healey to make the polite and appropriate request to her team members so that legitimate power does not appear to be a burden for the employees in the workplace. For example, individual failing to meet individual performance objective should not be given punishment without assessing the reason underpinning such situation. 

Reward power refers to the power possessed by an individual, who can reward others for what he/she wants (Anderson & Sun, 2017). As a managing director of Fujitsu New Zealand, Healey has power to provides diverse types of rewards, including promotions, raises, training opportunities, and compliments, to employees for their achievement. It is significant for Healey to focus on providing rewards to employees, who have made significant contributions to the organization. However, the reward distribution should be based on employees’ performance without being influenced by any discriminating factors, including race, sexual orientation, gender, ethnic background and disabilities. 

Coercive power often appears to be problematic and abusive in a particular organizational setting (Arnold et al., 2015). It is suggested that Healey should not use coercive tools including punishment and frequently threaten in the organization, as it may result in high employee turnover rate, contributing to affect the business performance. Healey’s judgments, advice and orders are valued in the organization since her skills and knowledge help in understanding situations effectively. It is important for Healey to continue developing confidence and enhancing rational thinking ability to maintain expert power and effective leadership skills, required for workforce management. The leader, in the form of referent power, is often identified as a role model (Dulewicz & Higgs, 2005). The referent power of Healey is treated with charm or admiration. Healey’s leadership characteristics, especially diversity management skills, receive a good appreciation from employees. It is significant for Healey to maintain this power by avoiding applying the coercive power on employees. Responsibility plays a key role in referent power that Healey can use to get respect from the employees. 

Case 2: The Warehouse – Investing in Your Community 

Question 3

a) THREE ways how a store manager in The Warehouse can use leadership

The store manager of the Warehouse needs to follow diverse leadership strategies that can facilitate him in maintaining a specific organizational culture, which is required for influencing organizational staff to deliver a good level of performance to support the community at, regional, local and national levels. One of the major ways that the store manager can use to influence employees to support organizational culture is that the entire workforce must be communicated the values of the company (Cameron & Green, 2015). Without having a clear understanding of the values of a company, it might not be possible for the employees to make adequate contribution to support the community at different levels. 

Another important way to inspire staff of the Warehouse to support organizational culture is to use of leadership tools, including storytelling, role modelling, vision and persuasion (Kaufman, 2017). With the utilization of these leadership tools, the store manager of the Warehouse could motivate employees to support organizational goals. Management tools can also be used by the store manager to provide significant information to the employees to take participation in the program, dedicated to supporting the community at local, regional and national levels. Some of the important management tools that could be used to make employees informed about the organizational culture include training, hiring, role definition and control systems. 

b) TWO possible examples of resistance to change

When developing organizational culture, the store manager of the Warehouse may encounter resistance to change. One major example of employee resistance to change is the high rate of absenteeism, which may be experienced by the store manager of the company while changing the organizational culture. The main reason behind absenteeism is due to the lack of knowledge and understanding of employees about the new cultural values of the organization (Stouten, Rousseau & De Cremer, 2018). If employees are not exposed to the appropriate training and development sessions required for achieving individual and organizational objectives, then their absenteeism rate increases radically. 

Another example of resistance to change that can be observed by the store manager of the Warehouse is that increasing employee turnover rate. During developing a new organizational culture, employees resisting to the change often leave their company, showing their disagreement towards new cultural values organization starts believing in. The key reason behind increasing employee turnover rate during the organizational change is the reluctance of employees to change their old habits in the organization (Eagly & Johannesen‐Schmidt, 2001). Lack of security and fear of economic loss may also influence employees of the Warehouse to leave the organization during the development of organizational culture. 

Question 4

a) THREE differences between transactional leadership and transformational leadership

Transactional leadership style uses punishments and rewards in order to motivate their followers, whereas transformational leadership style enables leaders to use their enthusiasm and charisma towards inspiring followers. For example, the store manager can use transformational leadership to motivate employees effortlessly. On the contrary, transactional leadership could not fit into the situation of the Warehouse due to its reactive nature (Dulewicz & Higgs, 2005). The charisma of transformational leader helps him behaving with employees in an admirable way. Another differentiating factor between transactional and transformational leadership style is that the transactional leaders emphasise on developing a relationship with their follower, while transformational leaders focus on the ideals, morals, values and needs of followers. For example, the transformational leader facilitates in enhancing employees’ performance level by providing them appropriate training, rewards and other motivational factors. 

One of the most significant differentiating factors between transactional and transformational leadership is that transactional leadership focuses on execution and planning, whereas the transformational leaders believe in innovation. For example, transformational leaders motivate employees towards delivering their best possible performance to bring innovative products or services.  However, transactional leaders prefer maintaining the existing system through proper execution and planning. 

b) TWO reasons and examples of using a leadership style

Mark Powell, the chief executive of the Warehouse, should use transformational leadership in the organization in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives. One of the key reasons why transformational leadership style is being suggested is due to its purpose of changing the existing organizational culture. As per the scenario, the Warehouse has been planning to develop a new organizational culture that must be supported by the employees. If transformational leadership is used in the organization then it could become easier for Mark Powell to motivate employees towards accepting the developed organizational culture. 

Another significant reason behind the selection of transformational leadership is that it is likely to facilitate leaders to focus on the values, ideals and morals of employees (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt & Van Engen, 2003). Transformational leadership style is effective for enhancing employees’ performance in the changing organizational environment, as the leaders focus on providing all sorts of required facilities to the employees. In a newly developed organizational culture, it is important for the leaders to identify issues encountered by the employees. The lack of understanding of employees’ morals, values and needs can create difficulties for Mark Powell to influence employees towards delivering a high level of performance in the newly developed organizational culture.