Leadership and Management Style at Armellini Italian Ice Cream and Coffee Chain - Assignment Example

Answer Leadership and management style Leadership basically refers to people who have the capa to bring about changes in other people. Organizations are characterized by the unique culture that is inherent in the overall working of the organization. Discussion of leadership with reference to large organization is as important as that of small one for the simple reasons that the leaders within the organizations, not only provide an intangible stability among the employees and facilitate integration with the system, but they have been known to promote collective vision of the organization and provide the necessary impetus to the employees to strive towards it. Leaders create visions and goals whereas the managers and administrators work towards achieving them. The fast changing pace of the technology can be observed in the study of the organizations and the changing role of leadership within the organizations. The role of leaders, managers and the administrators of the organizations become more challenging when new technologies are introduced in the organizations. The good leadership ensures effective communication with the employees with shared vision of the new technology, thus promoting better understanding among the employees for easy changeover. The managers and the administrators need to be guided by the group leaders within the organization to implement the changes in a smooth manner. In the contemporary environment of competitive business, the leadership style and leadership initiatives become major propellant of gaining effective leverage against business rivals. Discussion of leadership with reference to large organization is as important as that of small one for the simple reasons that the leaders within the organizations, not only provide an intangible stability among the employees and facilitate integration with the system, but they have been known to promote collective vision of the organization and provide the necessary impetus to the employees to strive towards it. Scholars assert that in the increasingly changing environment of global competitiveness one needs to ‘approach managerial leadership as a relational, ongoing social construction process rather than as a single clear cut phenomenon’ (Sjostrand and Tyrstrup). The emerging new managerial leadership has encompassed a very important aspect of organizations, that of making effort to involve employees in the decision making process. The leadership has recognized the importance of people’s participation in the overall strategy of having collective goals through shared learning. Thus making it an intrinsic part of the work methodology which is characterized by the stability provided by the system and the integrated approach of the workers. It is important that business strategies and policies must incorporate the changing nature of the society that is increasingly becoming multicultural and focused on training and development of human resource to meet the challenges of the global competition. The management needs to promote strong organizational leadership. Peer leadership and administrators must take up the role of leaders because both of them have the capacity to wield considerable influence among the employees and employers alike so that they give their best. The management must be able to inspire them and instil self confidence. It is especially relevant in the context of multi cultural society where staff learn to interact with each other without racial prejudice. They learn to develop attitude and behaviour which is conducive for a mutually benefiting and tolerant society. Corporate leadership was a strong tool for promoting independent thought and actions with good analytical and rational approach towards issues and people thus facilitated in building a congenial and encouraging environment that helped produce better performance outcome. It is important to realize that the compulsions of emerging globally competitive business environment is having an effective managerial leadership that encourages innovative business strategies and creative practices to overcome the challenges of fast changing technologies and dynamics of economy. Answer 2 Leadership characteristics used in Armellini Italian ice Cream and Coffee Chain. Leadership of Mario Armellini Armellini Ice Cream and Café chain was started by Maria Armellini, after the WWII, in Venice and rapidly gained popularity for its innovative flavor and quality handmade ice creams. The unit later expanded to include espresso coffee and light snacks. Maria’s leadership initiatives became the motivating force behind the success of the business. McShane defines a leader as ‘one who has vision, perseverance, and the capacity to inspire others’ (2003). Leadership in all areas assumes special meaning because it motivates and encourages that target group within the organization to improve performance outcome. Maria’s leadership is an exemplary example of McShane’s definition of leadership qualities. Her vision and mission of the business became the inspiration for her and her workforce which made it a huge success within a short period. Leadership of Alessio Armellini After the untimely death of Mario, the eldest son Alessio took over the business and with the help of other family members rapidly expanded it with branches across Europe and South East Asia. Alessio’s primarily enforced strict quality control and adherence to the original quality of ice cream, food and beverages through surprise personal inspection or audits. The managers, who kept to the system and ensured that it worked, were rewarded and those who failed to meet the expectations were sacked. Creativity was not encouraged during Alessio’s stewardship. Alessio primarily followed the directive leadership style that was focused towards target based organizational behaviour and helps facilitate psychological and predefined organizational structure for predetermined targets. The lack of creativity and flexibility makes it difficult to service in the fast changing business environment, especially when the fast advancing technology has changed the dynamics of global business. Leadership of Helen Patterson After his retirement, Helen Patterson, an Australian management consultant was brought in as CEO. She follows participative leadership that encourages collective decision and mutual trust building to improve and improvise outcome. The leadership ensures effective communication with the employees with shared vision of the new strategy thus promoting better understanding among the employees for easy adaptability to change (Tannenbaum & Schmidt, 1973). The leadership is focused on knowledge and skills of the employees and exploits them to achieve organizational goals. Her innovative approach is the critical factor in the cutthroat business. She has used the concept of value based leadership that promotes and facilitates continuous learning and focuses on participative leadership style. Strong communication skill and intrinsic understanding of human nature become vital factors that inspire change towards the better. Cross cultural understanding and relationship building are strong ingredients of Helen’s leadership. Effective decision making has been essential part of Helen’s leadership so to achieve desired objectives and optimal performance outcome. She has set targets for the expected results of the various outlets of Armellini Ice Cream and Café chain. But she has also considerably empowered the managers of various outlets in the management of the outlets and creating regional boards to boost their efforts. While inspections were still carried out, they became more of an exercise to look over the progress rather than a ‘checklist’ inspection. She has also been creative in her marketing and broadened her objectives to include ‘franchising’ as a means of expanding the business. To develop effectiveness in strategic change, flexible approach to managerial leadership that is more labor friendly needs to be adopted. It should also believe in developing joint goals and objectives that are mutually beneficial, thus fostering mutual beliefs and better understanding of each others value system. The management needs to accept the challenge of creating a cohesive and encouraging atmosphere so that the workers could get effective learning environment. Helen’s initiative in introducing technology has greatly facilitated information sharing and thereby significantly influencing operation and outcome. Indeed, Helen encourages creativity and innovative practices that give a unique perspective to participatory approach of management. The motivating factor of her leadership facilitates adaptability to changing equations, which occur due to rapidly changing environment of emerging new patterns in various organizational processes. It has another very important attribute of recognizing the wide scope of emerging opportunities. She has helped promote shared vision of the organization and provide the necessary impetus to the people to strive towards it thus representing the team’s unique objectives and goals. Reference Armellini Italian Ice Cream and Coffee Chain Case Study. McShane. (2003). Leadership and Management. Study guide. Sjostrand, S and Tyrstrup, M. (2001). Recognized and unrecognized managerial leadership’, in invisible management – The social construction of leadership. S Sjostrand, J Sandberg and M Tyrstrup (eds.). Thomson. pp 1-27. Tannenbaum, R. & Schmidt, W. (1973). How to Choose a leadership Pattern. Harvard Business Review, May-June 1973, No. 73311 (originally published in March-April 1958 issue). Read More