Leadership in the Retail Industry

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Introduction

This paper is based on the topic of leadership in the retail industry. It seeks to explore the topic by looking at the importance of nurturing leadership. It also looks at the leadership approaches which young leaders should adopt for them to successfully lead contemporary organisations in the retail industry.

It is argued that leaders of the young generation need to adopt a leadership approach which is proactive and sensitive to the changes in the business environment in the retail industry. They also need to blend different leadership approaches because different situations call for different leadership styles or a combination of leadership styles.

Challenge of Mobility of Workforce in the Retail Industry

Young employees in the retail industry have faced the challenge of mobility for a long time. The reason why the young generation has faced the challenge of climbing the ladder of leadership is that it lacks the experience to lead.

Many organisations in the retail industry need experienced leaders due to the volatility of the industry in terms of competition and adoption of new technology in business processes. When young people leave colleges or universities, they usually have the certificates but are not exposed to practical work.

They therefore stay for a long time ranging from 10 to 15 years before they gain the necessary experience to work as leaders in organisations. The current job market is also characterised by high turnover rates. As a result, many young people do not work for one organisation for a long time enough to qualify for promotion to leadership positions.

The reason why they hop from an organisation to another is because they usually seek for good employment terms, especially good salaries to cater for the ever rising cost of living. The other reason why young people face the mobility challenge is because many organisations in the retail industry do not invest in initiatives which promote employee retention.

Retention refers to the activities done to ensure that once employees are employed, they remain in the same organisation permanently or for a long time. The main reason for retention is that the processes of recruitment and selection of employees are not only tedious but also costly and time consuming.

Retention is usually based on motivation theories such the human relations approach which is characterised by a shift from the scientific to the humanistic approach in the motivation of employees. The approach places more emphasis on the work environment and perceives employees as social beings with social, psychological, and financial needs.

It also acknowledges that employees have the potential of being creative in their work. The approach also values the synergy found in teamwork, the reasoning being that employees are able to come up with group norms and rules which govern their work. The approach also recognises the importance of employees interacting with their managers in a friendly way without fear of victimisation.

When employees fear their managers, they tend to work with their bodies but their minds and hearts are usually far away (Fox 2009). However, many organisations in the retail industry are managed using the scientific approach of management. This approach hinders upward mobility of young employees because the managers do not give the employees an opportunity to be creative and innovative.

Instead, the managers view the employees as liabilities and as a result, they do not bother to invest in employee development because they believe that the compensation offered to employees is enough to keep them motivated. The managers and supervisors also treat employees with contempt and they do not give them an opportunity to micromanage their work.

Leadership Approaches to be adopted by Young Leaders

Wart and Suino defined leadership as the ability of a person to influence other people to do things which they may not do without the influence (Wart & Suino 2012). People with this ability are referred to as leaders and are found in different settings and contexts. In organisational context, leaders are responsible for planning, coordinating, and controlling organisational functions and activities towards attainment of organisational goals and objectives (Sims 2007).

In a book titled “management”, Schermerhorn defined management as the art of getting things done through people (Schermerhorn 2010). Many organisations have policies, procedures, and guidelines that govern the decision making process. Managers must understand how to get people do what they are supposed to do and know what exactly gets done, the results to be achieved, and how best the results can be achieved in an efficient manner.

Leadership forms the basis of success or failure of organisations because nothing can be accomplished with failed leadership and bad management. Employees in organisations need an effective leader to influence and marshal their efforts towards the achievement of a common goal. Being a leader means more than being a team leader.

It involves getting things done and doing them well. It is a show of positive attitude and involves various aspects like influencing followers, commitment of individuals to goals, aiding group cohesion, and spearheading change in organisations. Leaders learn and adapt leadership styles which they feel may deal with diverse personalities and evolving situations. Some leaders have a combination of positive traits and attributes as their basis of leadership (Wart & Suino 2012).

Both leadership and management are essential for the success of organisations because they complement each other. Leadership attributes transform managers into leaders and by so doing; the managers discharge their duties in a flexible manner. Such managers also have the ability to create a cohesive organisational culture where employees’ loyalty and motivation are greatly enhanced.

Trait Approach of Leadership

Trait leadership is best suited for young leaders in the retail industry. In a book titled “The leadership experience”, Daft explained trait leadership as having to do with leaders acting upon leadership traits which they are born with (Daft 2008).

The leadership style does not embrace the idea that leadership can be learned or acquired from experience but rather perceives leadership as a quality which people are born with. Trait leadership style therefore leads to realisation of excellent results because the leaders have leadership qualities at birth and are able to lead even without any formal training (Daft 2008).

Trait leadership may inspire employees to become creative because trait oriented leaders are not mechanistic in their leadership but they understand the importance of allowing employees to micromanage their activities at the workplace so as to achieve their targets. When employees are given the permission to micromanage their work, they develop positive attitude towards work which makes them to work hard and attain good results.

They are also able to change the rules governing their work and try new ways of doing things. By so doing, they are able to discover new approaches to their work. If for example employees who work as marketing agents are allowed to micromanage their work, they can recommend new types of products which they think are the best for customers (Gill 2011).

Under the trait leadership approach, employees are able to focus on the end result and come up with their own ways of meeting the set targets and deadlines without failure. Since all organisational activities are undertaken in a timely manner, organisations are able to implement their projects with a high degree of success which leads to increased productivity. At the same time, employees like imitating the trait oriented leaders and as a result, they are ever focused on their role in their organisations which increases efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity (Northouse 2010).

However, trait leadership style has the potential of resulting to conflict of ideas in the workplace because trait oriented leaders may sometimes exhibit dictatorial traits which may create conflict due to their failure to consult other leaders or employees when making some important organisational decisions. The tendency of trait oriented leaders to believe that they know it all may sometimes work against them and lead to resistance to organisational change (Pearce & Robinson 2011).

How Trait, Participative and Contingency Approaches Blend Together

Research in the field of leadership has shown that organisations in the retail industry may reap more benefits by blending various styles of leadership. In a book titled “Exploring leadership: individual, organisational, and societal perspectives”, Bolden, Hawkins & Gosling argued that the blending of different leadership styles can lead to effective leadership.

For instance, blending trait leadership principles with participative leadership may enhance employees’ leadership capabilities. Trait leadership principles when blended with transformational, transactional, and situational leadership styles may improve interpersonal skills of leaders. Furthermore, the styles can be blended to create a highly motivated workforce that can contribute positively towards the achievement of organisational goals (Bolden, Hawkins & Gosling 2011).

Trait leadership in particular may enable participative oriented leaders to have charisma which enables them to inspire the team members to realise good results. Contingency leadership style may enable participative leaders to change their leadership style depending on the situation and become more efficient and effective. Participative leadership may inspire teamwork because the style is about making everybody in organisations to participate in the process of moving the organisations forward (Bolden, Hawkins & Gosling 2011).

The participation is not only about the performance of duties but also about making decisions which affect the work being done. Since everybody is actively involved in organisational activities, the “big boss” syndrome is eliminated and replaced with a culture in which all members of organisations feel as part of a big team with a clear mission and vision to achieve.

Employees also view each other as members of one family and for this reason; they do not hesitate to share their thoughts, ideas, challenges, and strengths with fellow employees (Bolden, Hawkins & Gosling 2011). The contingency approach may inspire a change of leadership depending on the situation because the style is based on the philosophy that organisations are unique and therefore, there is no general approach to leadership.

The approach enables leaders to be flexible in their leadership and as a result, they are able to treat each situation differently which leads to enhanced success of activities undertaken by employees. The ability of the leaders to be flexible in their leadership style means that they are result oriented and not bound by procedures, rules or regulations but are free to change tact with the overall objective of meeting the set targets. Flexibility in leadership leads to increased efficiency and effectiveness making organisations to increase their productivity.

Reference List

Bolden, R, Hawkins, R & Gosling, J 2011, Exploring leadership: individual, organisational, and societal perspectives, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Daft, R.L 2008, The leadership experience, Thomson/South-Western, Mason, OH.

Fox, W. M 2009,The management process : an integrated functional approach, Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, N.C.

Gill, R 2011, Leadership theory: A critical review, synthesis and redefinition, SAGE Publications Ltd, London.

Northouse, P 2010, Leadership: theory and practice, Sage, S.l.

Pearce, J & Robinson, R. B 2011, Organisational structure. dans: strategic management: formulation, implementation and control, McGraw Hill, S.l.

Schermerhorn, J 2010, Management, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J.

Sims, R 2007, Human resource management : contemporary issues, challenges and opportunities, Information Age Publishers, Greenwich, Conn.

Wart, M.V & Suino, P 2012, Leadership in public organisations: an introduction, Sharpe, Armonk, N.Y.

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