Question:
Discuss about the reflective writing of the theories learnt in the course?
Answer:
Introduction:
This reflection report has been developed by the reflection of three different theories learnt in the course. The three theories are cost leadership theory, decision making theory and the transforming leadership theory. The cost leadership theory has been analyzed in the context of the intense market competition of the retail sector of the resent market. The retail market is full of competitions worldwide. The effective way of achieving the competitive advantages can be achieved by using the cost leadership theory. The second theory is the decision making theory. It is very important to take the most superior decisions for conducting any business successfully. In this area, the decision makers should take the proper decision by following the steps of the decision making theory properly. Besides taking the right decisions for the management of the business processes, it is also very important to manage the human resources of an organization in an effective way. The transforming leadership theory provides one of the best approaches for managing the human resources by the effective leadership style.
Porter’s Generic Strategies (Cost Leadership theory):
Porter’s Generic strategies provide the idea about the way of pursuing the competitive advantages by a company in a chosen target market. The present market condition has been changed in the past few years. The present market is full of tough competition as there are many companies with the same kind of products and services in the same market. Porter’s generic strategies are helpful for determining the right way of achieving the sustainable competitive advantages in this tough market competition (Porter, 1981). If we consider the market completions of the retail sector, I think the cost leadership theory is the best one to get the competitive advantage by a company. According to this theory, the customers are very conscious about the price of the products offered by different companies. If a company is able to provide their products at the lowest price, it will be able to achieve the competitive advantage. Providing the products at the lowest price is not so easy task for the companies (Rothaermel, 2012). Beside the lowest price, the companies must ensure the rich quality of the products as the customers of the present world are also conscious about the quality of the products they are purchasing. In this area, the cost leadership theory is stating that a company needs to deliver the richest quality products at the lowest price to get the competitive advantage (Rust, Moorman and Dickson, 2002).
The first approach of the cost leadership theory is to utilize the resources of the company at their best level. In this case, if the company can increase the number of production centers, then it will be able to produce a large volume of products at a small amount of time. This will help the company to reduce the price of the products. Higher production will also help them to develop a potential barrier to the new companies for entering in the specific target market (Hagen et al. 2012).
The second approach of this theory is stating that the price of the products can be minimized by decreasing the number of components of the production. The company needs to produce fewer products depending on the demand of the customers. Fewer productions will be the cause of minimizing the price of the products and will also help to maintain the quality of the products (Hill, Jones and Schilling, 2014).
The third approach of the cost leadership theory is about the effective use of the inventory management and supply chain management. In this case, the company needs to find the suppliers with the minimum price but higher qualities. The company has to think about minimizing the transportation costs of the production. Selecting local suppliers would be a feasible solution of this problem (Zott, Amit and Massa, 2011).
Decision making Theory:
From the theories and concepts of decision making, the most important thing that I have learned is the method of choosing the logical data from all other available options. While making a decision I must understand the positive and negatives of all options by understanding and evaluating all alternatives. Biasness should not affect my decision making as different situations demand different action. Thus, before making an effective decision I must understand the current situation and all the available options related to that situation (Kacprzyk and Fedrizzi 2012). Then I must forecast the results of those options and based on the results I will choose the proper option which is cultivating the desired result. From the various concept and models I have pointed out eight major factors that I should follow to make an effective and positive decision. Those factors are,
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Identifying the reason of the decision
Before making a decision I must ask some questions to myself to understand the purpose of the decision like” what really is the problem”, “why the problem must be solved”, “who are affected by the problem” and “Does the problem has any timeline”.
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Gathering information
In case the problem is related to an organization, it will have some stakeholders. On other words there must be lots of factors who are affected by the problem. I must gather information about those factors and stakeholders who are involved in the problem (Fandel and Gal, 2012).
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Making rules and regulations to judge the alternatives
Through this step I will create base line criteria which will help me to judge the alternatives.
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Brainstorm to evaluate different results
In this step I will brainstorm to write down all the best possible options. But I must realize that before making a list I should understand the causes of the problem and prioritization of causes (Hwang and Lin, 2012).
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Evaluating the alternatives
I will use my judgment principles and evaluating criteria to evaluate each alternative. In this step I will compare all the alternatives and find out their positives and negatives (Zimmermann, 2012).
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Choosing the best alternative
After going through the above five steps in this step I will select the best alternative that will lead me to take the proper decision.
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Execute my decision
I will then replicate my decision into a plan or sequence of activities. Then I will execute my plan by myself or by taking help of my subordinates.
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Analyze the results
From the outcome of the result I must note down few points such as, if it was really the best decision or not, if yes then what issues i faced to achieve this decision, if no then what mistakes I have done and how I can resolve them in future etc.
From other theories and models I have also learned that decision making have several stages that help to make an effective decision. Decision making firstly involves deciding where I am and where I want to go. Then I will have to develop various options which lead me to my destination. I understood that if I make any decision without considering all available options then there is big change that I will make mistakes (Chernoff and Moses, 2012). So, I will have to generate as many quality options as I can. Another important thing in decision making which I have learned is action. A well-made decision is even pointless unless it has no action. As decision making is about the future, about looking forward, making choices should lead me to an enhanced condition, to action. However, action has both negative and positive effects. So, I must consider both positive negative aspects that might occur from my decision making.
Transformational Leadership Theory:
Transformational leadership is one of the most inspiring styles of leadership where the leader works with employees creating a vision and changes with need. Transformational leaders bring positive effect to an organization as they are energetic, passionate and focus on the systems to be successful. The transformational leaders get involved with employees as they have determination and commitment towards success. These leaders also motivate employees for performing better and in exchange for loyalty. There are studies that show both positive and negative effects because of this particular style of leadership (Nixon, Harrington and Parker 2012).
Transformational leadership has significant benefits as the leaders are less selfish than charismatic leaders, who believe in success of self more than others. Other positive effects on the organisation are that it leads to improved work productivity, better performance, innovation and creativity. A transformational leader uses the vision of company for inspiring its employees to be more productive and work towards organizational goals. The leader finds several ways for corporate strategy and planning that helps in achieving vision easily. A good transformational leader refines the overall business plan that affects individual marketing programs. The leader shares his ideas with the team and encourages others to share their ideas with the management. The basic theme of transformational leadership stresses on reaching out to every employee and bring out the best potential in them (Nixon, Harrington and Parker 2012).
The leaders believe in spending time with his subordinates for developing their career and discussing plans to make job easier. It helps in creating a strong bond between the subordinate and leader. This strategy leads to employee retention. A transformational leader makes consistent growth in the organization and designs a process of being more involved with new employees. These features help the employees in producing outcomes more than what is expected of them. The employees reach new levels of growth on a personal level. An “open-door” policy is presented by the leader encouraging others to seek advice, suggestions and schedules on one-on-one meetings. A transformational leader also breaks the frame of organizational thrives and tries to make the work environment better and motivational (Lee 2014).
However, there are certain criticisms that go against the practice of transformational leadership. It is practically not possible to teach or train leaders for this practice. The pattern is too comprehensive that restrict enthusiasm in innovative supporters. It is difficult to differentiate between pseudo-transformational and transformational leaders. For example, in the case of Hitler, he was a transformational leader but with different moral developments. The theories and concepts do not support the differentiation between the two theories. The great-man theory therefore reveals a dark side (Jaros 2013).
Also, transformational leader only focuses on the methods and ways the subordinates or followers can contribute to the organisation. It does not focus on the fact about how the leader can contribute to the organisation. The flow of change is unidirectional. A transformational leader is called to be obsessed with trust that creates risk among followers in fulfilling impractical visions or ambiguous goals. There is less conceptual clarity in the style of leadership as it also comprises of the features of c charismatic leader. A transformational leader is effective at motivating, but he lacks the focus to create a strong corporate structure in context to policies and procedures. The leader may over-burden a subordinate with work by convincing them on taking more responsibility. The line between inspiration and reality might get blurred. There is a chance that employees may lack skills to perform the particular job and words of encouragement and motivation are not enough (Van Knippenberg and Sitkin, 2013).
Conclusion:
The theories analyzed in this paper are effective for the management of a business organization. The cost leadership theory will help a business organization to achieve the sustainable competitive advantage in the tough market competition of the present market. Three different approaches are analyzed for implementing the cost leadership in the business strategy. The decision making theory will help the company to achieve the desired level of success by taking the most superior decisions for the business operations. The steps of the decision making theory as described in this paper should be followed properly for getting the desired level of success in the management of the business organization. In order to get the desired level of success in the business, the organization needs a high level collaboration from the employees. In this context, the organization requires an efficient leadership style within the workplace. The third theory analyzed in this paper is effective enough for managing the human resource of the company which is the key of getting success in the business.
References
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