The Concepts of Leadership in Red Rose Entertainment Company - Essay Example

Introduction The understanding of issues related to management and organisations is very important particularly during the contemporary period where it can be noted that the business environment is dynamic whereby it is constantly changing hence the need for management to keep pace with these changes. The report therefore, seeks to outline how Red Rose Entertainment can implement the concepts of leadership and organisational culture in its operations so as to ensure optimal performance of the organisation. The report starts by giving a brief description of the organisation followed by an outline of the management process and organisational issues related to each concept. Description of the organisation Red Rose Entertainment is a video shop which was established in 2000 in Queens Town, Australia. Since its inception, the shop mainly relied on catalogue cards when issuing videos to the customers. However, the organisation has underscored to expand its operations and penetrate other areas but this requires it to adopt a new computerised system as well as hire more employees in order to improve on efficiency. In order to meet the changing demands of the environment to be more flexible there is pressure from the workers who want to be developed and trained to play a part in decision making in areas that affect them and their work. Leadership Leadership is defined as the ability to influence a group of people towards the achievement of organisational goals (Robins S.P., Odendaal A.& Roodt G. 2001). Basically, leadership is concerned with the vision of the organisation and it should be noted that leading is a function of management where a leader instigates change that is aimed towards the achievement of the organisational goals. The leadership and the employees ought to work hand in hand in order to achieve the vision of the organisation which has underscored to expand its operations. A leader often takes a leading role in developing and inspiring staff to improve on their performance which in turn leads to increased productivity in terms of offering satisfactory products and services to the customers with the aim of achieving organisational goals. A leader should always display positive traits that can be emulate by the juniors in the company. Basically, leadership is mainly concerned with taking a long term perspective of the organisation where a leader seeks to motivate the members of staff through developing relationships of trust among the workers (Bates et al 2005). In the case of Red Rose Entertainment, democratic, participatory leadership style is more ideal as it can enhance positive performance of the subordinates if they are given high levels of autonomy. In this regard, the leaders must communicate a vision that is conducive to their operations and can encourage subordinates to find solutions to problems in an innovative way. It can be said that leaders who tend to be empowering individuals in decision making or solving problems in their own way, supporting them to develop autonomy, but still providing help or advice to subordinates are more likely to produce better performance standards. This can be achieved through putting structures in place that clearly define the communication channels and they should be open. Communication is very important in an organisation and there should be a two way communication channel where there is feedback from both ends. In the case of Red Rose Entertainment, it would be difficult for both the management and other employees to understand each other without feedback since the organisation is embarking on a drive to expand its operations to other new areas. In some cases, lack of information would tend to complicate otherwise simple situations which would just require the dissemination of correct information in order to be understood. There should also be structures that allow the bottom to top communication to take place in a professional manner in a bid to create mutual understanding among the members of the organisation. On the other hand, effective communication removes fear among the employees as they would be better positioned to understand the requirements of their tasks in the day to day operations of lending videos. Penetrating other new areas means that employees at Red Rose Entertainment are going to meet new people with different cultural background as well as values. It is the duty of the leader to motivate the employees to take up the challenge as they may be apprehensive to take up the new challenge. The fact that the employees at Red Rose Entertainment will be interacting with a lot of people from diverse cultural backgrounds entail that they should have good interpersonal as well as communication skills. As noted, communication forms the back bone of the organisation hence the need for the leader to ensure that the employees have the required expectations. They must also have the autonomy to make decisions and a true leader should always lead by example during this transitional period. Organisational Culture The myths, traditions, practices and rituals of a particular organisation are elements that make up the organisational culture (Bates et al 2005). Values in an organisation are learned and they are shaped and influenced by the members of the organisation. Organisational culture directly influences the operations of an organization. Since these values are learned and created, there is an aspect of management function where the management ought to implement the desired organisational culture which can be used as a manual in the operations of the organisation. Each organisation has got its own culture which is used to define the policies and support structures required in its operations. In most cases, organisational culture is used to design policies, codes of conduct, communication channels, and employee support structures. However, policies and employee support structures are worth nothing unless they are implemented. Managers must therefore be conscious and alert to the behaviour amongst employees and be sensitive to the needs of minority groups in the organisation. Managers must be skilled in communicating with the employees and must also be quick to resolve conflicts that may arise amongst the employees. In their quest to find solutions to challenges they may encounter, members of the organisation engage in collective learning that creates norms, shared assumptions and beliefs that become organisational culture. An organizational culture is created by the members who learn and gain experience of doing things from those around them in a given situation. To enhance an organisation’s creativity, it is imperative to create a culture that promotes innovative ways of identifying a problem and finding a solution (Locke and Kirkpatrick, 1995). Thus, in the case of Red Rose Entertainment autonomy to make decisions and creativity can be enhanced in an organisation by promoting open communication between members and building a relationship based on mutual trust and creating an atmosphere of respect. Brand (1998), posits to the effect that innovative and supportive culture will encourage creativity while controlling and directive culture will hamper it. Individuals are often more creative while they can choose their way to complete their tasks. Creativity can be effective where organisational culture can integrate with individual’s values, perceptions and capabilities in the workplace. Most of the tasks at Red Rose Entertainment are performed through interaction with different people hence the need for them to uphold the principles of the organisation enshrined in its culture of doing things. It becomes easier for the employees to execute their duties if they have an open culture which gives them the autonomy to make decisions in their work. Broadly speaking, the culture of an organisation is what determines whether people from diverse backgrounds feel that they belong or not to it. If the culture of an organisation expresses the tastes and preferences of the dominant groups, those who belong to that group may feel alienated and unwelcome to work in the organisation. For Red Rose Entertainment, it is imperative that the organisation strives to promote an accommodative culture that is neutral in order to avoid the problems likely to be associated with unfair treatment which can have a negative bearing on the performance of the employees. Conclusion It can be noted that the concepts of leading and organisational culture somehow have a management function that can influence the performance of the employees in an organisation. In the case of Red Rose Entertainment the management functions of leadership and organisational culture can go a long way in motivating the employees to take up the challenge that comes with the organisations’ drive to expand its operations. It can be concluded that these two concepts have a bearing on influencing the employees to have a positive inclination to the organisation where they are motivated to have a sense of belonging. References Bates B. et al (2005). Business management: Fresh Perspectives. Cape Town. Pearson Education. Brand, A., 1998, Knowledge management and innovation at 3M, Journal of knowledge management, Vol. 2 No.1 Kleynhans R. et al (2007), Human Resource Management: fresh perspectives. CT Prentice Hall. Locke, E. A. and Kirkpatrick, S. A., 1995, Promoting creativity in organizations, In C. M. Ford & D. A. Gioia (Eds.), Creative action in organizations, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Robins S.P., Odendaal A.& Roodt G. (2001), Organisational Behaviour, Pearson Education Read More