leadership knowledge assignment outlining leadership styles and implementation

Question

Task: how to determine the best leadership styles to use with staff usingleadership knowledge assignment research methods.

Answer

1. Introduction
The leadership knowledge assignment will present three separate pieces of communication which will be directed towards the three key stakeholder groups of our company, namely: staff, suppliers and customers. These pieces of communication will be followed by a comprehensive debrief which will explain the approach behind the mode of communication employed towards each of the groups.

Fig 1: Official Logo of SwiftCook
(Source: As created by author)

2. Staff
2.1 Communication
Communication with the staff will require more than verbal expression, so I will arrange for an online meeting using the Zoom App, and speak the following lines:

“Good morning team. I hope you and your loved ones are coping well with the challenges of this unanticipated COVID-19 epidemic. As you can all see, the problems encountered by businesses, regardless of their size or scope, as a result of this environment characterized by a strong feeling of uncertainty and disruption are enormous, as are the losses. With a sad heart, I must notify you that our firm has experienced massive challenges over the past several weeks, to the point where it is quite doubtful whether we will be able to endure this unprecedented struggle. Even with all of our backups and contingency plans developed on this leadership knowledge assignment, our position has not improved. Due to government regulations aimed at limiting the spread of virus invasion, companies around the nation and the world, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) like our own, are finding it extremely difficult to manage their operations.

Our factories have been closed down and the demand for our products has also declined big time. Considering the present situation, it is really difficult to make a guess as to when we will have the potential to open our factories once again like normal times. Under these circumstances, we feel extremely disappointed to state this, but we have decided to relieve our factory staff members of their professional duties; not out of our wish but our compulsion. Despite trying various mechanisms to prevent this decision, we have gotten cornered by the challenges of the pandemic, the most significant one being the financial pressure. Since our revenue streams have been badly clogged, we are currently unable to generate sufficient revenue to bear the weight of sustaining our current workforce.

Hence as per leadership knowledge assignmentpolicy guidelines, we have been forced to take the decision of keeping only the office staff for now, who comprise 50% of our total workforce. The factories have been closed down for an indefinite period of time, and so the factory workers are practically redundant right now. Having said that, I would like to extend my gratitude to all the factory staff members who have played a major role in the functioning, growth and development of our company. Although I wish this were not the case, this is where we part ways. Even at this point, I would like to end by saying that if the situation gets better, our company will certainly rehire our factory staff members. Till then, we bid them goodbye. May all of you and your dear ones stay healthy and fit. Thank you very much for your understanding and support.”

2.2 Debrief
As our organization has been facing adverse circumstances due to the sudden advent of the coronavirus pandemic. The organization has taken some major decisions considering the present situation for the purpose of sustaining the organization till the end of the pandemic phase. As a leader of the SwiftCook Appliances, my responsibility was to convey the message of the organization to the employees maintaining the values andstandards of the firm. SwiftCook values the employees and the effort they put into the company. As the present situation has got worsened, the company literally has been forced to lay off some of its employees. Before taking this significant decision, the company has tried to make every effort to prevent the decision but the majorfinancial loss has led the organization to make this strong decision with the hope to ensure the functioning of the organization. Alongside, the company has also thought about their employees and gave an assurance to take them aboard after the situation gets well.As a leader, I had to convey all these aspects to the employees to demonstrate the present situation, its impact on the organization, how the organization is responding and the cause behind it ensuring the value of the firm and expressing the words in a humble and empathetic way. The main purpose behind my approach on this leadership knowledge assignment is to make the employees feel valued for the firm and to make them understand the cause of the decision taken by the firm. Alongside offering them this information, with my words, I assured them how much the organization value their presence and how much the firm intends to take them back inside the firm. I have also conveyed that the decision is not driven by any personal will but it is driven by the circumstantial challenges. Moreover, I also conveyed that the management has tried many mechanics to prevent the decision in order to convey to the employees that the firm has made effort to keep them inside the firm. In order to deliver a message, I have chosen to make a zoom video call which is a great medium of high context communication where I will better demonstrate my emotions and feeling through my body language and gesture. Due to this cause, I have decided to conduct a video conference and deliver my words in front of the employees.

I have applied the situational leadership theory on this leadership knowledge assignment, which seemed the best style for my purpose. According to the situational leadership theory,no single leadership is best rather, the best leadership approach is based on the task and the situation. In the year 1969, Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed the situational leadership model (Thompson &Glasø, 2018). Situational leadership brings out the best in a team via creating a democratic work environment and encouraging adaptability and flexibility among the employees. This leadership approach benefits in developing a relationship with the team members as the leadership style are customized based on the situation. It is up to the leader when they wish to change the leadership style. A leader also has the freedom to change the style based on the needs of others inside the organization depending on the situation (Walls, 2019). According to the situational leadership style, there are four types of primary leadership styles, telling, delegating, participating and selling.

As situational leadership used on this leadership knowledge assignment states that Leadership style can be altered. As a leader considering the Covid situation, I have opted for situational leadership theory as I got the freedom to adapt the leadership style. In my speech, I have shown the employees flexibility the organizationhas by conveying to them that the decision may be based on the present situation but they may rehire if the situation gets better (Wuryaniet al., 2021). Another aspect a situational leader has is trustworthiness. In this regard, to acquire trust, I have told the employees regarding the cause behind the organization has decided to take the decision to conceive it as a justification (Manyuchi, &Sukdeo, 2021).As situational leaders think of the big picture, employees have been informed that the decision may be based on the current situation for ensuring continuity of the function if the firm continues its operation via taking these steps, the firm will open its door like normal period (Henkel &Bourdeau, 2018).

3. Suppliers
3.1 Communication
In order to communicate with our suppliers, I will organize an online video conference using the Zoom App. What I will tell them is as follows:

“A very good morning to you gentlemen. I hope you and your dear ones are all doing fine amidst the horrors of this unforeseen viral outbreak of COVID-19. As you all can very well understand, the challenges being faced by businesses, regardless of their size and scope due to the challenges posed by this situation marked by a strong sense of uncertainty and disruption, are really huge, and so are the losses. With a heavy heart, I must notify you that our firm has experienced significant losses in recent weeks, to the point where we are seriously thinking about whether we will be able to survive this epidemic. We have not been able to improve our condition despite our persistent attempts.

Due to the government mandates aimed at preventing the spread of viral invasion, businesses across the country and the world, especially the SMEs such as our own company are finding it indeed very tough to manage things. All our factories have been closed down, and the demand for our products has sunken tremendously low. We are getting anxious about the massive volume of stocks that we have at this hour. There is virtually no scope to clear off our inventory and pay off our fixed costs.Therefore, I feel very sorry to mention this to you, but right now we will not need any new raw material supplies from your end. I hope and expect that you can perceive the pressure that the situation and the market condition are exerting upon us. Hence, at this hour we do not have the means to order any raw materials for our business activities, and neither do we have the need of doing it. I would thus request you to sympathize with us and understand our predicament as per leadership knowledge assignment policy guidelines. At the same time, I would also like you to know that working with you all has indeed been a great experience till now, and we are grateful for all the valuable support you have extended to our company. I make you a promise that if the situation gets better, and we can manage to withstand the heavy impact of the pandemic, we will certainly engage with you all and continue our activities like good old times, and I am taking the liberty of assuming that we will receive your valuable support at that point in time. Till then, I pray for the health and well-being of you and yours. We will surely keep in touch with you. Thank you so much for understanding us.”

3.2 Debrief
In the process of delivering the message to the suppliers of SwiftCook on this leadership knowledge assignment, I kept a tone of empathy as the situation is tremendously affecting businesses all over Australia. I have conveyed the present scenario and its impact on SwiftCook and also demonstrated the organizationalapproachtoward mitigating the adverseimpact of Covid on business. Demonstrating this aspect has benefited me to offer a justification and describe the suppliers that the management is working on the improvement has failed repeatedlywhich states the management is also active towards the mitigation of the issue. Throughout the message, I have tried to maintain a respectful, optimistic and formal tone. As the suppliers are very crucial for the SwiftCook and theorganization always ensures valuing and respecting their external stakeholders. In this regard, I have kept the organizational value in my communication ensuring the right tone in my tone.

As I have tried to ensure that the right approach is embraced as it is the value of SwiftCook to value and offer dignity to their employees. As a leader, I have tried to maintain this approach throughout the communication for making the employees feel supported and makingthem calm. In order to offer them a clear idea regarding how the situation has affectedthe company, I have described Swift Cook’s current situation and losses. I have also mentioned the inability of the firm to further purchase any stock from the suppliers, which has benefitted me to spread a sense of empathy among each other as I also added the repeatedattempts of the firm to continue operation. Lastly, I have kept an optimistic tone towards the decision of the company may lead to a better time and the firm continues their purchase from the suppliersin future.

For this purpose, I have applied servant leadership on this leadership knowledge assignmentas the main purpose of servant leadership is to offerservice to the people. A Servant leader emphasizes the people who are below them instead of the organization as a whole. In theyear 1970, K. Greenleaf firstcoined the term “servant leader” (Eva et al., 2019). The main goal of servant leadership is to think about the well-being and growth of the people (Zhang et al., 2021). In respect of communicating with the suppliers, I have emphasized the suppliers feeling and ensured the tone of empathy throughout the speech as I stated that we understand the situations very hard for everyone and demonstrated the current situation of SwiftCook.

As a servantleader identified on this leadership knowledge assignment emphasizes the desire to be in service of others, I have shown myself committed and promised the suppliers that if the situation gets better, we will definitely continue to order raw materials from them (Pawar et al., 2020). By stating that I assume that get support from all of our supporters I have also built a sense of community which a servant leader must have in terms of meeting current Organizational objectives. As a servant leader, as there is no condition for continuing the purchase, I have tried to maintain a relationship with the suppliers and my decision to applyservant leadership is appropriate here (Gandolfi & Stone, 2018).

4. Customers
4.1 Communication
For the sake of communicating with our valuable customers, I will make public posts across social media channels and also send personal emails to them. The message goes as follows: “Good day to you dear customer. We hope you and your family are doing good in this pandemic situation. The COVID-19 outbreak has had a massive toll on the lives of each one of us, and our company to has taken a heavy beating from the same. Even then, we have maintained our perseverance and remained committed to our mission of offering quality products to make cooking a seamless and enjoyable process for you. We are standing strong, bracing ourselves for the impending challenges of this global pandemic. Although our shops have been closed down as per the government mandate and need of the hour, we have decided to go fully online for handling our business activities. You will be able to find our products on our official website as well as some of the e-commerce platforms. We are sorry to state that the pandemic has made it very difficult for us to maintain our innovative spirit, and so we are not currently capable of introducing newer product ranges. However, we would like to let you know that you will be able to purchase our products at half the MRP. This is an exclusive offer we would like to make to you, with the sole intent of making things easier for you during this highly challenging pandemic situation, our valued customer. We are waiting for your orders. Visit us and get all the kitchen assistance you need! We promise to be back at your service at our stores once the situation gets better. Till we meet again in person, take care and stay safe. We would be grateful if you extended your kind support to us and help us surmount this global challenge as one big team. Together, we can surely make it happen, so let’s do it!”

4.2 Debriefof the leadership knowledge assignment
While conveying a message to our valuable customers, I started the speech with a brief introduction to the current pandemic situation, whichdeliver the purpose of my appearance. Thereafter, I stated the position of SwiftCookfor the purpose of making the customers aware of our mission of making them enjoy seamless working. Along with this, I have also conveyed the stand of the organization considering the present challenges posed by the pandemic. I have made them aware that they will not get any service from our physical stores but considering their needs and wants, we will be serving through online maintaining all the safety protocols. My main n purpose was to convey the message of theorganization to the customers by making them are of effortstowardsmitigating this issue. Alongside as a responsibleleader, I have also guided them regarding where they can find pour products. Throughout the communication, I have tried to make them are and make them calm regarding the stands of SwiftCookin midst of the pandemic.

Throughout my leadership knowledge assignmentcommunication with the consumers, I have opted for the transformational leadership theory. The transformationalleadership style brings positive change and inspires others. The transformational leadership concept has been coined by the biographer, and leadership expert James MacGregor Burns (Asbari, 2020).Transactional leaders emphasize giving rewards and benefits in gaining compliance.These leaders act out of the interest of the followers rather than the power bestowed to them and this leadership style also help and assist others.There are several benefits of transformation leadership. This leadership style encourages change, understanding the gap, encourage and motivate to solve challenges, enhances communication and emphasizes ethics (Asbari, Santoso&Prasetya, 2020).

In the case of delivering a message to the consumers, I haveadopted a transformational leadership style. When transformational leaders speak, they speak very simply, following this aspect, my approach towards the consumers was very simple whichcan help them to easily articulate the message of the SwiftCook team.Considering the need and want of the people is necessary which is another aspect of transformational leaders (Turnnidge&Côté, 2018). In this regard, we have informed the customers that in the present pandemic situation, we are unable to innovate for meeting their needs of them but we will continue to serve them service through online service as physical stores have been closed.

Furthermore, we have also considered the present need of the consumers and the pandemic situation and its impact on purchasing ability of consumers and have given the consumers an offer to buy our products at a discount rate of 50%. By giving an opportunity to the customers to buy these products at a discount rate on online platforms and from their official websites, I have also maintained then the principle of mobility of transformational leadership (Brown, Brown &Nandedkar, 2019).In terms of communication skills, I have empathized, observed, clear and courteous throughout the communication (Hartinahet al., 2019).

5. Conclusion
SwitCook ensures the value, respect and dignity of its stakeholders. Considering the present situation and repeated attempts to make attempt failures, the firm in order to overcome the pandemicsituation has decided to lay off some of its employees and offer products at a 50% discount. I have chosen zoom meeting as a medium for conducting video conferences as in this way, I will be better able to express my ideas through the combination of body language, expression and words which will make the stakeholders feel safer and calmer as per leadership knowledge assignment guidelines.

References
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