Essay: Tesco leadership and management style

Tesco is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer,  founded by Jack Cohen in 1919.  By its profits,  it  is placed on the third place in the world. Tesco has 6902 stores as of September 2016 and generates a net income of £129 millions (2016).
The key people in the company are Non executive chairman John Allan and Dave Lewis, Group CEO. Tesco started off as a grocery retailer  and it quickly diversified into areas such as the retailing of books, clothing, electronics, furniture, toys, petrol and software; financial services; telecoms and internet services.
According to Kotter, he infers that managers roles are to plan, control, coordinate, budget, organise, staff, guide, reassure, monitor.
In his theory, he also pointed the difference between a manager and a leader. He concluded the leaders roles and responsibilities are to see, vision, strategise, risk, inspire, delegate, perform and enrol.
Leaders create revolution,they change paradigms,set goals, direction, challenge norms in order to achieve their aims, while managers are evolutionary,incremental.
There are different styles of management such as autocratic, paternalistic and democratic style.
Autocratic management style refers to taking important decisions by the senior managers without any involvement from workers. This kind of management it’s operations in factories employing low skilled individuals, but demotivates the workers.
By adopting a paternalistic management style, the managers make decisions after consulting with workers,creating an effective two way communication. The downside of this management style is that it slows dorm decision making. By analysing it well, the theorist came to the conclusion this is still a dictatorial is autocratic management style,
The democrat style of management allows workers to make decisions of their owns. It’s applied in the business run under the majority decisions. Workers are well motivated because the authority is delegated to them,  but skilled workers are required to take important decisions otherwise errors can be made.
There are also different leadership styles.
Coercive leadership style was first described in 2002 by Daniel Goleman. A coercive leader requires immediate conformity to their orders. I’d best described by “Do what I tell you, or else.”
An affiliative leader says “people come first”. This type of leadership is very effective when workers need motivation during periods of heavy workload and stress.
Pacesettings leadership sets high standards of performing for workers. This type of leadership can demote workers who often think if they are failing,
Authoritative style of leadership is used when leader dictates,decides when targets are to be achieved.
A democratic leader give everyone courage to create and a voice to express. Is the type of leader which will ask “ What do you think?”.
The coaching leadership style is best described by “ try this”. Has good results where the performance need improvement.
Operations management is a important part of a business. Tesco has an effective operations management. The stock is being kept to an optimal level and also the supply is being matched to the demand of the products which Tesco offers to its customers. Tesco has to make sure the effectiveness is being maintained in its 6902 stores in order to attract more  and more customers. Tesco has to ensure it never runs out of stock, products are ready to be put in the shelves so that customers won’t be diverted to other stores. It has to make sure that all operations are in good order like cleaning, fully working tills, shelves are full, lighting, delivery of goods. By maintaining its standards high, Tesco was able to attract ra 34% of the market share and accumulate high profits.
Tesco understands customers needs, offering low prices and also creating value for money. It monopolised online market by creating a new online shopping website and taking advantage of tyre latest technology. Tesco is also responding to the new tastes in fashion and food. It has successfully introduced organic food and the products are purchased every week.
Tesco’s day to day experience operations are different. On Football World Cup, Tesco sold products according to the event. On Christmas Tesco is full of with Christmas gifts and cakes ,On Valentines’ day Tesco is full of chocolates and flowers ,this is all because they understand their customer’s day-to-day needs and demands and they are fulfilling their demands and needs efficiently.
Tescos’s management adapted a democratic leadership style because they take account of the teams members’ opinions and suggestions during decision making within agreed  boundaries. . The employees are motivated and they deliver a good services to the customers.  They are considered to be an important asset to the company.
The organisation is growing because of the effectiveness of the democratic leadership and management style they adopted.
In order for Tesco to concentrate and to maintain the continuous growth, the managers also adopted an autocratic style of management to make sure the employees are carry out the task at a given time.
As a conclusion, Tesco’s managers are using the democratic and autocratic approach timely. Tesco believes that “Happier staff means better customer service”.