Leading And Managing Business Organisations Q&A Sample

Introduction To Leading And Managing Business Organisations

Workplace diversity refers to workforce within the firm that belong to different culture, gender and religions (Kharroubi, 2021). It is very crucial for a firm to manage the diversity within the company for effectively achieving goals and objectives. This report is based on the importance of managing diversity among the company and the issue that has been faced by Sainsbury in managing its diverse workforce. Importance and reason behind rational theory will be provided through this report.

QUESTION ONE

What is the significance of managing diversity within a company?

There are various benefits that an organization enjoys by managing diverse workforce of the company. Some of the significance of managing diverse workforce is as follows:

• Enhancing productivity: If the company is focusing towards managing workforce within its operation then it will lead to creating positive work environment for employees. This helps in improving their satisfaction level that eventually results into enhancing overall productivity of the employees.
• Reducing conflicts: It has been determined that most conflicts began with inappropriate management of diverse workforce (Stanford, 2020). This involves not respecting culture and believes of others that results in creating dissatisfaction among employees (Cushman, 2020). By effectively managing diversity, company is able to reduce the scope of conflicts within staff that results into enhancing their overall performances.
• Improving innovation level: Based on study it has been determine that hiring and retaining diverse employees assists in improving innovation within firm by 19% (Diversity impact on innovation, 2020). This helps in improving the creativity and innovation level within the firm by using different ideas of individual. Diversity within organization will help in identifying difference in needs and preferences of individual that assist in determining product by which such needs could be fulfilled. This will help in creating competitive edge in market and helps in gaining more profits.
• Improving decision making process: Decision making is the crucial process that determines the overall working of organization. Diversity within firm will help in identifying point of view and mindset of different individual regarding particular decision. This will help in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of decision making process by evaluating particular decision based on various perspectives.
• Lowering employee's turnover: Controlling and managing belief and attitude of different employees in company will assist in improving their satisfaction level. Worker will develop sense of belongings by working in the company that respect their ideas and culture (Inegbedion et al, 2020). This will help in enhancing their satisfaction level which results in lowering turnover rate for employees.
• Enhancing reputation and goodwill of the firm: Culture and environment of company highly influences the position of particular firm. As the company promote diversity, it will help in creating positive image in the mind of customers and other individual. This will assist in promoting brand without including much effort that results in enhancing overall profitability of the organization.
• Increasing profitability: Companies with diverse workforces are able to earn more profit as compared to others (Williams and Wade-Golden, 2023). This has been achieved as diversity leads to promote better decision making, problem solving and innovation within the firm. These all factors together result into improving profitability position of the firm.

Describe various issues that Sainsbury is facing while managing diversity at their workplace.

Sainsbury is one of the recognised grocery brands in the UK that aim at providing a variety of consumer goods to the customer. The market share of Sainsbury is 15.6 % with annual turnover of more than 37.956 billion in 2023 (Market share of Sainsbury, 2023). Firm is having more than 175000 employees which indicate the diversity among the staff (Karcher et al, 2022). This requires company to pay focus towards managing the requirement and needs of each employees that helps in effective working of the firm. To promote diversity within their operation, firm is focusing on involving 50% of female employees, 3% black employees and 12% ethnic representatives in their management team (Diversity and inclusion in Sainsbury, 2024). While achieving target various challenges and issue has been faced by Sainsbury that create obstacle in achieving goals efficiently. Some of the challenges are as follows:

• Communication Barrier: As Sainsbury operates on an international level, there are employees that belong to different country and regions. This leads to difference in the language of individual that creates issue in understanding. Company is targeting toward using online platform to communicate with their employees; this leading to false interpretation by employee's results in creating obstacles in effective communication.
• Managing perspective: Every employ in company has different creative ideas and perspective for solving particular issue. As firm is targeting towards including diverse employees in their senior management, it creates issues for company to identify best solution for problem (Market share of Sainsbury, 2023). It also creates dissatisfaction among employees as only one idea could be selected at one time which leads to disappointing other team members. Decision making process has been impacted as it requires more time and effort for firm to identify best after evaluating various ideas.
• Compiling organizational goals with diversity: Survey indicates that once the rules and regulation has been formed in company, it is difficult for the company to make changes in the same according to the environment. Sainsbury did not focus on conducting survey that helps in getting better insight of issue which has been faced by employees. This creates issue as policies of company are not fulfilling the requirement of all employees which results into dissatisfaction.
• Discrimination: As the workforce increases, scope for discrimination, harassment and prejudice also enhances. It has been identified that decision made by human always involves some type of biasness that results in creating negative culture within firm. For managing employees, it is important that trust is maintained among employees (Posch, 2019). Discrimination leads to reducing trust that results in negatively impacting working environment.
• Resistance to changes: This is the issue which has been faced by Sainsbury in effective managing diversity within its operation. Employees generally resist adapting to new policies that leads to creating issue fort manager in effectively implementing diversity initiatives in organization. If manger pressurizes employees for changes it reduces satisfaction of employee's results in impacting overall functioning of company.

QUESTION TWO

Describe the characteristics of the Rational Goals theory.

This theory was proposed by Frederick Taylor which emphasis on identifying the best alternative for each activity that will helps in improving efficiency (Rational goal model of Management, 2024). This theory focuses towards improving the profitability and efficiency of worker in firm by using various incentives. Theory is based on the assumption that company should use scientific approach that leads to reduction in the wastage leading to enhance efficiency and productivity of organization. Various characteristics of rational goal theory are as follows;

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• Scientific approach: This theory is not based on hit and trial method for increasing the efficiency rather focuses towards using a scientific approach that will help in improving overall performance of the employees. It also assists in saving cost of the company and improving its financial position.
• Standardization: Taylor theory focus towards determining one best way of accomplishing task that leads to increasing efficiency. This focused towards bringing standardization in the working of the company. This includes standard tools and method which each employee needs to follow to carry out a particular task. This helps in reducing wastage within the firm and leads to achieving goals more effectively.
• Improving economic efficiency: This model is focusing on improving the economic efficiency within firm by reducing overall cost and aim at improving profitability of organization (Rahmani Hosseinabadi et al, 2019). The mental and physical well being of employees is generally ignores and focus is paid towards increasing their efficiency that helps in reducing wastage in operation of firm. This theory indicates towards increasing economic efficiency by enhancing managerial efficiency and reducing inputs waste.
• Concentrate towards providing training session: Under this theory, focus has been provided towards provided training and development session to employees which assist in improving the efficiency of employees in achieving organizational objective. Personal objective has been ignored under this theory and focus is mainly paid towards fulfilling company's goals.
• Adequate distribution of responsibilities: This model of management is concentration towards using pay for performance incentive for increasing motivation. This also focuses on determining authority hierarchy that helps in effective working of company.

Provide reasons for organisation using scientific model in their operation

In the current environment, use of Taylor theory should be reduced in firm's operation as it does not concentrates towards mental well being of employees. Theory had only emphasizing towards increasing economic efficiency within firm which result in reducing satisfaction level for employees. Beneath its weakness, firm still employing this theory because of following reason.

Improving efficiency: Taylor theory of management helps in improving the efficiency of firm in completing the task as this focus on adopting a scientific approach (Rice, Taylor and Forrester, 2020). This includes divided total work into smaller units and allocating each according to capability of individual that leads to completion of work with utmost efficiency.

Enhance training: It has been believed that breaking down of complex task into small segment results in the repetition of same work leading to making employees monotonous. But implementing this will act as training session for new employees that help in improving their efficiency. This helps in improving the effectiveness of training session results in enhancing overall productivity of employees.

Gaining expertise: Company is using this theory to improve the specialization and expertise of workers (Klerkx and Rose, 2020). It has been identified that if an employees is allotted to do same work over a long periods of time than it results in gaining expertise in completing task. It will results in reduction in amount of wastage and helps in improving overall profitability position of firm.

Promoting standardization: Taylor theory is focusing towards setting standard for completing task that helps employees in understanding the process by which particular task need to be accomplished. It has been claimed that this standardization results in reducing the scope of creativity and innovation within employee which impact organization. This theory has been transformed into Digital Taylorism which focuses towards enhancing efficiency by standardising techniques used in completion of task.

Improving motivation: This theory is focused towards providing wage according to the performance of employees which results in enhancing motivation level of employees to work more efficiently. This will result into improving overall performance of employees that leads to improvement in the profitability of company.

Ensure accuracy: This approach is targeting towards using factual approach which is linked with ensuring the accuracy of the working. Company is using this theory as it helps in reducing the cost for firm and improving overall profitability position of company. Hit and trail approach has been eliminated that results in not investing towards various strategies to determine best rather following scientific measures that result in improving overall efficiency.

Reducing scope of conflicts: Taylor theory is aiming at reducing the scope of conflict at workplace by promoting collectivism in the organization. This helps in reducing individualism and aim at providing equitable opportunity to employees (Trip et al, 2019.). Theory has been focuses towards providing equitable and justifiable wage pay that did not create feeling of discrimination and dissatisfaction among employees. Company is employing this theory as it helps in decide on wage rate according to the performance which reduces felling of biasness among employees.

Reduce cost: Company is using this theory to reduce overall cost of organisation. It has been identified that waste in organisation leads to increases the overall costing of company results in making product expensive for consumer. To reduce the cost company is focusing towards using this theory that emphasis on using standardization in its process which reduces scope of hit and trail approach. These are the various reasons because of which company in current time is using Taylor theory which helps in improving overall performance and profitability of company.

Conclusion

By summing up report it has been determine that diversity management is crucial for successful working of firm. It has been identified that diversity management helps in reducing conflicts, employee's turnover and assist in enhancing productivity and goodwill of firm. It has been determined that communication barrier, resistance to changes, discrimination are the various obstacles that are impacting overall functioning of company. It has been identify that Taylor theory assist in promoting standardization and improve efficiency within operation of company.

References

Books and Journals

• Cushman, F., 2020. Rationalization is rational. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 43, p.e28.
• Gomez, L.E. and Bernet, P., 2019. Diversity improves performance and outcomes. Journal of the National Medical Association, 111(4), pp.383-392.
• Inegbedion, H., Sunday, E., Asaleye, A., Lawal, A. and Adebanji, A., 2020. Managing diversity for organizational efficiency. Sage Open, 10(1), p.2158244019900173.
• Karcher, D.B., Cvitanovic, C., van Putten, I.E., Colvin, R.M., Armitage, D., Aswani, S., Ballesteros, M., Ban, N.C., Barragán-Paladines, M.J., Bednarek, A. and Bell, J.D., 2022. Lessons from bright-spots for advancing knowledge exchange at the interface of marine science and policy. Journal of Environmental Management, 314, p.114994.
• Kharroubi, D., 2021. Global workforce diversity management: Challenges across the world. Ekonomicko-manazerske spektrum, 15(1), pp.28-37.
• Klerkx, L. and Rose, D., 2020. Dealing with the game-changing technologies of Agriculture 4.0: How do we manage diversity and responsibility in food system transition pathways?. Global Food Security, 24, p.100347.
• Posch, P., 2019. Action research–conceptual distinctions and confronting the theory–practice divide in Lesson and Learning Studies. Educational Action Research, 27(4), pp.496-510.
• Rahmani Hosseinabadi, A.A., Vahidi, J., Saemi, B., Sangaiah, A.K. and Elhoseny, M., 2019. Extended genetic algorithm for solving open-shop scheduling problem. Soft computing, 23, pp.5099-5116.
• Rice, D.B., Taylor, R. and Forrester, J.K., 2020. The unwelcoming experience of abusive supervision and the impact of leader characteristics: Turning employees into poor organizational citizens and future quitters. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 29(4), pp.601-618.
• Stanford, F.C., 2020. The importance of diversity and inclusion in the healthcare workforce. Journal of the National Medical Association, 112(3), pp.247-249.
• Trip, S., Bora, C.H., Marian, M., Halmajan, A. and Drugas, M.I., 2019. Psychological mechanisms involved in radicalization and extremism. A rational emotive behavioral conceptualization. Frontiers in psychology, 10, p.437.
• Williams, D.A. and Wade-Golden, K.C., 2023. The chief diversity officer: Strategy structure, and change management. Taylor & Francis.
• Online
• Issue in managing diversity. 2023. Online. Available through: < https://www.kallidus.com/resources/blog/top-challenges-of-diversity-in-the-workplace/#:~:text=Communication%20issues%20can%20be%20somewhat,challenges%20before%20they%20become%20problematic. >
• Market share of Sainsbury. 2023. Online. Available through: < https://www.esmmagazine.com/retail/sainsburys-sees-biggest-jump-in-market-share-in-a-decade-kantar-254906#:~:text=Sainsbury's%20Sees%20Biggest%20Jump%20In%20Market%20Share%20In%20A%20Decade%3A%20Kantar,-December%2005%2C%202023&text=Sainsbury's%20has%20reported%20its%20biggest,12%20weeks%20to%2026%20November.>
• Rational goal model of Management. 2024. Online. Available through: < https://www.toolshero.com/management/rational-goal-model/>
• Diversity and inclusion in Sainsbury. 2024. Online. Available through:< https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/sustainability/better-for-everyone/diversity-and-inclusion>
• Diversity impact on innovation. 2020. Online. Available through: < https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesinsights/2020/01/15/diversity-confirmed-to-boost-innovation-and-financial-results/>