Leadership Practices in Wesfarmers

An organization in the modern world is comprised of the various kinds of leadership techniques and employment performance issues that have been varied according to the number and types of problems and situations that have been faced by the organization. The particular type of leadership that has been addressed in the organizational situation is being addressed along with the employee performance that is being done (Bolman and Deal 2017). The following report contains the leadership practices that is being practiced in the organization along with a detailed comparison with the Positive Leadership and Psychological capital literature. The following paragraphs highlight the various types of employees as well as the recommendations for improving the leadership and employee performance in the organization.

Leadership is defined as the process of leading a group of people or an organization by different methods and means. The concept of leadership is one of the most vital in the case of the organizational leadership as the leaders in the organization are there to make sure that each of the aspects of the organization is there in the process (Fairhurst and Connaughton 2014). There are a number of leadership practices that are being practiced in my organization named Wesfarmers. There are various types of leadership practices such as Autocratic leadership, democratic leadership, strategic leadership, cross-cultural leadership, transformational leadership and facilitative leadership. The leadership technique that is being followed at present in Wesfarmers is the transformational leadership technique which is surely one of the most prolonged leadership technique of the present world (García-Morales et al. 2012).

The transformational leadership is defined as the type of leadership in which the leader along with the team forms a vision to identify the changes within the organization to make sure that the changes are conducted within the organizational proves through inspiration and execution of change. The characteristics features of the transformational leadership technique are as follows –

The leaders of this kind of leadership technique have a number of core leadership techniques like good judgment and communication skills to make sure that the workers working in the organization are there working in the office with confidence and have the level of knowledge for the same (Kark and Shamir 2013). They are the type of leaders who can motivate the workers and have the ability to make difficult decisions after being able to take risks in the prolonged period.

The leadership technique that is being followed in the organization is the transformational leadership as the leaders in the organization have the capability to take apt and required decisions and hear the recommendations of the people from the different spectrums of life (Youssef-Morgan and Luthans 2013). The leadership technique makes sure that each of the employees of the organization is there to have their consciousness and can adapt to the situation with the prolonged risk factor. The innovative work culture and new ideas are also being explored in the work environment which is proactive in their work environment. The leaders are visionary and have sufficient knowledge to run the office environment in the most efficient manner.  

Transformational Leadership Technique

Employee performance at the organization at present

The business of an organization works because of the presence of a number of employees and their capability to work in the prolonged pressure for a period. The employee performance is one of the best aspects of organizational performance and is made to assure the various kinds of work that is being done in the organization. The importance of employee performance is there in the fact that it helps the organization to achieve the goals of the organization and also to make sure that the environment of the organization is positive and makes ample scope for improvement and suggestions by the other people in the workplace (Cameron 2012). Better employee performance assures the growth of the organization which in turn affects the employees in a positive way. The employee performance is measured by various means like Numerical scale rating, objective-based analysis and appraisals. The employee performance is determined by a number of factors which is directly related to the performance of the organization in some of the way or the other. In the current scenario, it has been identified that the employee performance level is decreasing, which has created difficulties in the customer service management.

The business of the organization is to make sure that each of the employees of the organization is assessed the employees and so that the employees are getting all the privilege for working at the desired rate in the organizational stature (Cameron 2012). The employee performance in the stated organization is medium and has a number of laid backs due to the inefficiency of the authorities and the management. The management is not willing to pay the appraisals at regular intervals which makes the employees demotivated. Therefore, in spite of great transformational leadership in the organization, the employee performance is not that satisfactory due to the inefficiency of the management.

The term positive leadership indicates the uses the theoretically grounded principles and scientific evidence for promoting the outcomes such as interpersonal flourishing, thriving at work, positive emotion, energizing network and virtuous behavior. It has been identified that the role of a positive leader is to bring the people together. As stated by Li, Chiaburu and Kirkman (2017), in the case of positive leadership, the performance standard, ideals, values and integrity is being analyzed. A positive leader needs to be aware regarding the goals and objectives of the organization. The positive leader is self-directed and the person also has the quality to inspire others. If the attributes of a positive leader are being analyzed, it will be identified that motivational skill, dedication and creativity are the major attributed that helps to become a positive leader. The organizational capability is also being influenced by the positive leadership qualities. In the words of Valsania Moriano and Molero (2016), a positive leader helps to achieve the ultimate outcome, the positive leadership is not about gaining the value.  

Employee Performance in the Organization

There are total numbers of 5 interdependent levels, these levels are closely interconnected with the positive lead. In the first level, the integrity values are being highlighted. On the other hand, in the next level the purpose of the organization is being analyzed by the leader. In this process, the values are being highlighted those help the leaders to take the right decision. In the third level, the values of positive leadership are being highlighted in which the operational qualities of a leader is being analyzed (McCarley, Peters and Decman 2016). In this process the momentary discomfort of the leaders is being identified.  In the fourth level the competency level of the leaders is being judged. In the fifth level the ultimate test is being done in which the preparation, exceptional talent and supporting capabilities are being improved. At the end of the level the positive leader takes the challenges in order to bring the self-improvement.

According to Luthans, Youssef and Avolio (2015), the psychological capital is being defined as the important part in the case of defining the positive environment, self-efficiency, resiliency and hope of individuals. In words, the psychological capital is being considered as the process by which the self-improvement is being done. The employee wellbeing, positive intervention and engagement of the employees are being influenced by the psychological capital (Baron, Franklin and Hmieleski 2016). On the other hand, it can be said that the psychological capital can influence individuals in both positive and negative manner. The positive motivation helps to derive the sense of a person to develop an effective plan so that the objectives can be gained. If a person has strong hope for dealing with the situation, this can inspire the person towards achieving the goals. Optimism is another important part of the psychological capital. In this process the person reacts in the case of a negative situation that reflects the personal ability as well as the sense of confidence of a person. On the other hand, the self-efficiency is a process that focuses on influencing the employee performance. In the case of resilience, the level of learning and functioning is being experienced. In this process the ability of a person to gets developed.

The positive leadership technique is the leadership process that helps the leaders and the workers to perform better under tremendous pressure. This kind of a leadership technique helps the Wesfarmers to have sufficient level of production due to which the positive leadership technique is being appreciated within a great level of time (Guillory 2013). The leadership technique which is being followed in the Wesfarmers is the transformational leadership which is more of the evolving kind of leadership process that helps the organization to have the maximum amount of innovative and influential technique for the better performance. The transformational kind of leadership is more appreciated by the workers whereas the positive leadership is claimed by the business process to earn more profit and thereby better growth.

Comparison with Positive Leadership and Psychological Capital Literature

The employee performance which is medium in the organization is compared to the high performance which is expected by the people from Wesfarmers at every point of time. The employee performance is one of the prime motivators for the organization as with better employee motivation and performance, the organization is expected to perform better and earn more (Youssefs and Luthans 2012). The employee performance is there to make sure that the level of expectation of the organization to the actual level of performance which is not according to the psychological capital literature like motivation, hope and other factors that encourage the employees to work in a better way.

Therefore, through comparison, it can be seen that the leadership technique followed by the organization is way better than the positive leadership technique and the employee performance is relatively low than the psychological capital structure that increases the hope for better performance.

Emotional labor

The term emotional labor is being considered as the process in which the expression and feelings are being managed for full filling the emotional requirements in a job role (Wang et al. 2014). In this process the employees are being expected for regulating their emotions during communicating with the customers. In the case of emotional labor relationship, it has been identified that in this process the emotional requirements of the customers are being identified by the employees so that they will be able to convince them in the proper manner. It is also true that the role of emotional labor is very important for developing effective customer relationship in Wesfarmers. The organization needs to develop the effective policies and process for reducing the native impact of the emotional labor. All kind of customer complaint related issues is being handled by this department in Wesfarmers.

Blue collar versus white collar employees

In the historical definitions it has been identified that the blue collar employees are the uninformed employees. The blue collar employees are involved in the trade occupation.  It has been identified that the white-collar employees mostly wore a white uniform. In the case of service sectors the white-collar employees are involved. On the other hand, Herr et al. (2015) stated that the blue-collar workers are involved in the labor jobs. Skills are very important in this job. On the other hand, in the case of a white-collar job, the workers are professionally trait. In the case of the payment scale, the pay scale of the white collar workers is quite higher compared to the blue collar employees. In the case of Wesfarmers the delivery boys, sweeper, watchman and technicians are being considered as blue collar employees. It has been identified that most of the employees who are working as blue-collar employees are not being provided with the health care policies. In the occasions these employees do not get the leaves. Due to this reason the dissatisfactory situation has aroused in the company. On the other hand, discrimination between the blue collar and white collar people is another important issue in the organization (Kultalahti and Viitala 2015).

Positive Leadership

Professionals versus administrative employees

The professional employees get the minimum wages as salary for their full-time employment hours. In order to be a professional employee the educational qualification is required (Form 2015). In order to join as a professional employee, the specialized academic degree is required. Therefore, it can be said that the employee who works in an organization and does the physical, mechanical and mental work are being considered as the professional employees.  The administrative employees do the most difficult job in the organization. The business operations and company policies are being developed by these employees. It has been identified that most of the rimes due to lack of communication between the professional and administrative employees can create a difficult situation in the workplace.  

Employees from a different generation

 The generation gap in an organization can create the disturbing working culture. In the current structure in Wesfarmers is being analyzed, it will be identified that technology has created the generation gap in the organization (Aruna and Anitha 2015). The modern software is common for the new employees, where the old generation has faced the challenges to manage in the situation. As the study has mentioned that transformational leadership is being followed in the organization, therefore, proper training and development practices have been introduced in the company so that the generation gap can get reduced (Wesfarmers.com.au 2018).

Leadership practices are being considered as one of the important elements in every organization. In order to develop the employee performance skills, the performance management tools can be beneficial. It is true that a good leader should have the monitoring capability so that the person will be able to understand what kind of development is required for improving the personal and professional skills of the employees. On the other hand, it has been identified that in the current situation performance quality has become one of the major concern. Therefore, it can be said that in the case of improving the performance level of a team, the inspiration is required which can be gained from a positive leader. On the other hand, it can be suggested that proper recognition and reward structure is needed to be developed in the company and the leader needs to be active towards understanding if the team members are getting paid properly or not. Through this process, the internal culture of Wesfarmers can get improved.

Conclusion

In this study, it can be concluded that the employee performance is being considered as one of the important elements of leadership development. The aim of the leader is not only developing the overall all organizational performance, but also the leader focuses on developing the skills of individuals. It can be said that if the leader is able to inspire to the team members I the proper manner it will influence the employee wellbeing as well as their performance. In order to gain the long-term profitability Wesfarmers needs to focus on developing the effective leadership practices so that the customer service can get improved. If the internal culture-related issues can get solved, it will influence the performance of the company.

Psychological Capital Literature

Reference list

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Wesfarmers.com.au 2018. Available from https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/

Youssef, C.M. and Luthans, F., 2012. Psychological capital. In The Oxford handbook of positive organizational scholarship.