STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP ASSIGNMENT

Module code and title: Strategic Leadership MB705

Student Name

Student ID
Executive Summary
The chosen organisation here is Sainsbury’s Plc which is a UK-based supermarket company.
The report mainly investigates the strategic leadership issues within Sainsbury’s plc and
critically analyses the effectiveness of the organisational leadership styles and management
strategies, given the organisation’s strategic position. The report suggests that to make the
leadership and management framework of the organisation more effective and competent, the
leaders need to arrange formal meetings, training, and development for the managers so that
they can transform their leadership styles according to employees' preferences and
organisational needs to establish a comfortable and positive work culture

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 Table of Contents

Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3

Background analysis of the organisation (position and performance):..................................3

Team roles and responsibilities at Sainsbury’s plc:...................................................................4

Leadership and management issues.......................................................................................5

 Advantages and disadvantages of Simon Robert’s leadership style

(transformational):..............................................................................................................5

 Advantages and disadvantages of Justin King’s leadership style (democratic):.........6

Application of leadership theories and change processes:.........................................................6

Development and Lessons learnt:..........................................................................................9

Conclusion/summary:..............................................................................................................10

Reference list:...........................................................................................................................11

Appendices:..............................................................................................................................14

Appendix-1: SWOT analysis of Sainsbury’s Plc”:..............................................................14

Appendix- 2: PESTLE analysis:..........................................................................................14

Appendix-3: VUCA analysis...............................................................................................15

Appendix-4: Leadership styles and theories:.......................................................................16

Appendix-5: Change management model and its limitations/complexities:........................18

Appendix-6: Tuckman’s team building model....................................................................19

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Introduction:
Background analysis of the organisation (position and performance):
The chosen organisation here is Sainsbury’s Plc which is a UK-based supermarket company.
It is a merchandise retailer organisation and it mainly runs via 2 main segments, namely
"Retail" and "Financial Services". The retail segment is engaged with retailing of food,
apparel/clothes, and general merchandise, and financial services include various financial
products such as credit cards, savings, loans and so on. Within the UK's retail sector,
Sainsbury tends to hold more than 16 percent of the total market share, right after TESCO
and ASDA, and it is the third largest supermarket in the United Kingdom market (Davies et
al., 2019). In 1922, the company was founded in London and as of now, the organisation has
been dominating the "UK retail industry" (Sainsbury's, 2022). The most significant strength
of the company is its global reputation, whereas one of its weaknesses is that it has some
leadership gaps from the managerial side, which further causes employees' dissatisfaction
(for a detailed SWOT analysis, refer to Appendix 1).

The various external factors, namely Political, Economic, Social, Technological,

Environmental, and Legal aspects, tend to affect its performance and position (Hassan et al.,
2020). It is to be noted that political factors like Brexit issues also tend to impact the positions
and performances of the company. Warkentin et al. (2020) suggest that leaving the EU might
make it quite challenging for "Sainsbury's Supermarkets" to import products from abroad
affordably, whilst an increment in the costs of the foreign items will likely be passed on to the
final customers. These moves depict that the company needs to put great effort into ensuring
that consumers keep spending as much as possible to maximise profits (Powell et al., 2019).

In the context of economic factors, Sainsbury's business performance gets affected. For
example, the rise in fuel prices tends to make it costlier in terms of transportation of goods
within and across the nation (Erdmann and Ponzoa, 2021). Thus, the supermarket businesses
like Sainsbury would have to account for “increased cost”.

This might manifest in terms of lower "profit margins" or "greater price tags" for the
customers, and in both cases, this would tend to decrease the total profitability (Bridger,
2022). In terms of social factors, Erdmann and Ponzoa (2021) note that the sociocultural
trends towards eating healthy also affect the business as it has to adapt to the demands of the
consumers for long-term success.
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Various recent technological advancements, such as the use of Big Data and AI principles,
have been enabling businesses to become more and more acquainted with their own
operations (Miller et al., 2019). Again, environmental factors also affect Sainsbury's business
position and performance as the supermarket chains are potentially responsible for huge
"carbon footprints", and due to the mounting environmental concerns, supermarkets like
Sainbury’s have to identify new ways to become more and more environment-friendly
(Miller et al., 2019). Furthermore, various legal ramifications of the “post-Brexit economy”
are another major factor that the brand must be prepared to encounter and it would be needed
to change many of its policies whilst running its outlets (al Habibi, 2019). (For further
information about the key external driving forces influencing Sainsbury’s performance, refer
to Appendix 2).

Team roles and responsibilities at Sainsbury’s plc:

The main in-store team roles within Sainsbury's Plc include confectioners, bakers, warehouse
staff, admin teams, checkout staff, counter assistants and many others, along with the ones
who look after the company's progress at the management level (Witzel et al., 2022). In
addition, the retailer also tends to employ a huge "support team" in the fields of marketing,
merchandising, information and technology, finance, logistics and so on (Parker, 2022). It is
to be noted that in the dynamic business world, organisations like Sainsbury's Plc. have to
face a wide range of changes regularly (Witzel et al., 2022).

In order to adapt to these changing environments of the business successfully, the company
needs qualified leaders and managers. Aligning with the studies of Prince (2020), it can be
said that the increase in "Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA)"
makes it necessary for present-day businesses to seek for fresh and innovative leadership and
management approaches to ensure positive outcomes under the "changed circumstances" (al
Habibi, 2019). For example, to tackle the increasing deregulation within the service industry,
Sainsbury has to carry out a range of change activities such as effective scenario planning and
dealing with pandemic situations like COVID-19, increased automation, inventory stock
shocks, and so on. It tends to restructure its supply chains, deploy higher resource
concentration of resources, increase in-house operations and incorporate more delegations in
the value chain (Colley and Spyridonidis, 2022). (For more information about the way
Sainsbury’s Plc is managed and led in the VUCA environment, refer to “Appendix-3”).

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Leadership and management issues
The research by Prince (2020) suggests that most of the managers of Sainsbury are
“autocratic”, but the staff prefer the participative style (Hassan et al., 2020). Thus, it can be
said that there is somewhat a gap between the existing overall management and leadership
style and the overall preferences of the employees. Moreover, male managers are more
autocratic in nature than female ones. Erdmann and Ponzoa (2021) further suggest that with
autocratic leadership, short-term outcomes can be earned, but it will fail to gain long-term
outcomes. However, it is worth mentioning that "Justin King", the former CEO of the
company, is considered to be a great leader as he followed a democratic leadership style
(DuBrin, 2007). (for more information, refer to Appendix 4). Justin King, throughout his
career, always encouraged managers to refer to the employees as “colleagues” rather than
“Staff” (Gill, 2007). Also, the current CEO Simon Roberts is also a very experienced
commercial leader who follows a transformational leadership style.

As per Justin King, any organisational change is not possible without the proper and adequate
contribution of the other employees and hence during any big change, such as supply chain
restructuring, work culture change, and so on, the decisions have been taken in collaboration
with the other managerial staff (Thompson and Doherty, 2010). Moreover, the current CEO
of Sainsbury's Plc, Simon Roberts, is a very optimistic and resilient leader and tends to make
it quite easy for people to follow him. He tends to create positive energy within the team
members. He is known to be a transformational leader (refer to appendix 4 for more info). He
has revamped Shop floor structures and rebuilt the operational model of the business. He
believes in remaining approachable and undertakes "collaborative management styles". He is
highly pragmatic and adopts a "common sense approach" for making decisions.

Here, the advantages and disadvantages of the leadership styles of the two most popular and
phenomenal leaders of Sainsbury are discussed:

 Advantages and disadvantages of Simon Robert’s leadership style

(transformational):
Some advantages of Simon Robert's leadership style are that he is extremely creative and a
highly experienced commercial leader (Yukl, 2013). The major advantage of the
transformational leadership style undertaken by Simon Robert is that with this leadership
style, he tends to stand out in his abilities and can quickly analyse the present situations of the
company (Adair, 2007). In addition, this leadership style entails passion and strong influential
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attributes, through which he can effectively communicate with the employees on board
(Beerel, 2009). On the other hand, in terms of the disadvantages of his leadership style, it can
be said that this leadership style is too conceptual and sometimes lacks the task focus that
some workers need to guide them and they tend to go about their roles and duties (Kotamena
et al., 2020). Simon Roberts often doesn't like to get bogged down in detail. However,
Sainsbury's plc needs effective operational planning to achieve its vision (Billsberry, 2009).

 Advantages and disadvantages of Justin King’s leadership style (democratic):

Some of the most important advantages of Justin King's leadership style are that he never
discriminates amongst his staff and encourages equal participation of the employees. He
focuses on effective communication and ensures that his colleagues feel free to share their
thoughts and perspectives with the leaders (Carmichael et al., 2011; Kotamena et al., 2020).
Moreover, the democratic leadership style undertaken by Simon Rober also works well with
various complex organisational situations as he knows how to solve problems. He thus allows
everyone to work on a solution and ensures that creativity is encouraged, making it possible
to resolve critical issues (Dilts, 1996). However, in terms of disadvantages, it can be said that
sometimes, Justin King, being a democratic leader, tends to take longer than usual to reach a
consensus as he believes in discussing each idea thoroughly before its implementation or
rejection (Sinclair, 2007).

Application of leadership theories and change processes:

As identified above, the current leader of the organisation undertakes a transformational
leadership style. It is said that Simon Roberts is both a born as well as a made leader. As per
recent scientific studies like that of Witzel et al. (2022), it is suggested that leaders are 30 per
cent born (genetic) and are 70 per cent made (learned). Simon Roberts is considered to be an
"acclaimed contemporary photographic artist" and is known for his "nuanced enquiries"
within the vast conceptualisations of collective as well personal identities. Here, the
"Greatman theory of leadership" can be considered (refer to Appendix 4). Aligning with this
theory, Robert Simon has good in-born attributes like good educational background, strong
emotional and analytical intelligence, and effective judgement skills, which contribute to him
being partially a born leader (Gandolfi and Stone, 2018). It is to be noted that emotional
intelligence can be both in-born or acquired attribute which enables a person to use,
understand, manage and handle “emotional quotient” in a positive way which further help to
relieve stress and also enhances effective communication skills, empathy, and hence enable to
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overcome challenges and manage conflicts. Since emotional intelligence improves ones
assertiveness, it enhances ones communication skills and hence Simon is aware of his own
emotions and have immense communication skills and confidence.

Again, considering the Behavioural theory (refer to Appendix-4), it can be said that Simon
Robert learned many skills like ardent technical skills, conceptual skills and human skills
(Stoner and Stoner, 2013). Technical skills help him to remain aware of the various
technological processes and techniques within businesses and human skills enable him to be
effectively interactive and enhance his communication skills (Tushman and Anderson, 2004).
Again, with good conceptual skills, he is able to come up with effective ideas for running the
organisation in a smooth manner. Thus, it can be seen Simon Roberts has both in-born
attributes and learned skills and hence he is partially a made, and partially a born leader.

It should be noted that some of the most daunting future challenges of Sainsbury include
“workers’ stress” and “supply chain challenges” (Wright and Taylor, 1994). To tackle these
challenges, effective risk management and stress management initiatives are necessary.
Hence, the leaders of the company need to call for potential "cost-saving programs", "logistic
operations", as well as "strong supplier relationships" and “employee engagement programs”.
Apart from that, to meet the present-day and future challenges, a supply chain restructuring is
required with a potential change management approach. It needs effective leadership and
change management skills to implement the changes successfully and to meet the future
challenges of the VUCA environment (Kim et al., 2021). In addition, Prince (2020) suggests
that most of the managers of Sainsbury are "autocratic", but the staff prefer the participative
style, which introduces a gap between the existing overall management and leadership style
and the overall preferences of the employees.

Thus, a change in the overall leadership and management style is required. Thus, the current
CEO, Simon Robert, can provide training to the existing managers on how to modify and
transform their leadership and management styles (Ali et al., 2021). Training and
development programs can help motivating employees and make ready for facing future
challenges and thus positively contributes to succession planning. They can consider the
"Lewin's change model" (refer to Appendix 5) for changing the management structure of the
organisation. However, it is not to be forgotten that the main limitation involved with
Lewin’s change model is the “insecurity amongst the managers” as they often get stressed
and tensed regarding their performances when a new change is introduced and thus the
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leaders may face resistance to change (Xiang et al., 2022). Since the managers were used to
work with autocratic leadership styles, they may worry about whether or not they can
successfully work with democratic leadership style causing “resistance to change”. Thus, to
overcome the resistance to change, the managers should be allowed enough time to get used
to their new leadership styles and the new organizational settings through effective training
programs, job-shadowing and so on.

Aligning with the suggestions of Miller et al. (2019), it can be said that with a happy and
dedicated workforce, any critical problem can be solved. In the case of Sainsbury's Plc, by
changing the management structure from autocratic to participative, the employees can be
encouraged to take part in the decision-making processes and collaborative initiatives can be
taken to further restructure their supply chains to meet future external challenges (El Sayad,
2022). Moreover, to build a high performing team and to understand the different phases
undergone by the employees while working together, and to manage their stress and conflicts
accordingly, the leaders and managers can consider “Tuckman’s model of team building”
which entail 5 stages namely, “Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning”.
At Sainsbury’s plc, Simon, through this model can focus on the way his employees tackle
tasks from the “initial formation” through the completion of the task. Furthermore, to ensure
effective talent management, the leaders should employ advanced recruitment and screening
techniques such as Skills Testing, Asynchronous Video Interviews, Applicant Tracking
Systems and online research and also should deploy effective performance management
systems such as “Balanced Scorecard Method”, “Management By Objectives (MBO)”, and
so on (El Sayad, 2022).

With this method of team building, the team would be able to develop abilities, maturity,
relationships, as the leadership styles are changed by the leader (Miller et al., 2019). Each
stage of the team development process can be understood and in the storming stage, the most
stress and conflicts take place, and hence proper steps must be initiated by leaders to tackle
this (El Sayad, 2022). Employee engagement programs, regular meetings, appropriate
allocations of task and allowing effective communication amongst the staff would contribute
to stress management and conflict management.

Moreover, to develop better negotiation techniques, and to deal with different challenges and
conflicts, the employees can collaborate with future leaders and managers in the network
renewal process, acquisition of new systems technologies, processing and partnering and
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development of people culture (Vedhathiri, 2020). Collaboration and equal participation,
encouraged by a democratic or participative leadership style, would enable brainstorming of
ideas, splitting of workloads and also will foster innovation and creativity and hence would
improve and strengthen their negotiation skills. These are some of the important requisites to
meet the future challenges of the VUCA environment (Jones, 2022).

It is also important for Simon Roberts to remember that no single leadership style would be
enough to tackle the present day VUCA challenges and hence considering “contingency
theory” and “situational theory” of leadership (refer to appendix-7), it can be said that various
variables within a particular situation tend to decide the suitable leadership for that situation.
Therefore, Simon, along with his managers should always try to correspond their leadership
styles asper the need of the situations by evaluation different variables like types of tasks,
natures of the followers and so on. Therefore, aligning with the discipline of “Business
Process Management”, it can be said that the leaders and the managers need to combine
various methods such as discover, analyse, model, evaluate, enhance, optimise, and automate
the business processes for smooth and successful operation.

Development and Lessons learnt:

From the report, it is learnt that the leadership and management style of Sainsbury's
organisation is considered competent but has flaws due to some of the management staff. It
can be said that the CEO or the main leader of the firm follows Transformational leadership
and respects equal participation and values the dignity of the employees (Pulker et al., 2018).
He also believes in keeping the employee motivated and bears an approachable personality,
further facilitating effective communication. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that the former
CEO of the company, Justin King, has set a positive legacy of effective leadership through
his phenomenal democratic leadership style and by fetching a top rank for the organisation
within the UK (Jones and Comfort, 2022).

However, most male managers tend to practise autocratic leadership, which is opposed by the
employees and hence creates a gap between the expectations of the employees and the reality
(Jones and Comfort, 2021). Therefore, the lesson learnt here is that to make the leadership
and management framework of the organisation more effective and competent, the leaders
need to arrange formal meetings, training, and development for the managers so that they can
transform their leadership styles according to employees' preferences and organisational
needs to establish a comfortable and positive work culture (Paul, 2020). By practising
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democratic or transformational leadership, effective collaboration, brainstorming, innovation
and creativity can be fostered, which are required to address the future challenges of the
company (Roberts, 2018). However, it is also learnt that in the VUCA environment, no
particular leadership can be sticked to and there is a need to correspond leadership styles and
approaches according to need and nature of the situation.

Conclusion/summary:
The report has entailed a brief evaluation of a chosen organisation, that is, Sainsbury’s PLC
and its performance and position have been thoroughly evaluated within the relevant
industry. The report has also identified a range of key drivers that would impact the firm in
the future and will discuss the issues of leadership along with a critical evaluation of how the
company had been managed and led. It can be concluded that the leadership and management
style of Sainsbury's organisation, though considered to be competent but has flaws due to the
management teams. However, through proper training, communication and change
management, the gaps can be met and the organisation would become more competent to
meet future challenges.

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Appendices:
Appendix-1: SWOT analysis of Sainsbury’s Plc”:

Strengths: Weaknesses

 Great brand reputation  Autocratic culture sometimes causes

employees’ dissatisfaction
 Positive customer feedback
 Supply chain instability
 Unique strategies for growth
 Leadership gaps from management
teams

Opportunities: Threats

 The latest technological  Increased globalisation can make things

advancements can make the ambiguous and uncertain for the firm.
company more diverse and
 New rules and regulations after the
innovative
pandemic have caused major shifts
 Economic uplift of the UK’s within the company, causing great
customers can increase its financial loss.
profitability

Appendix- 2: PESTLE analysis:

Political Due to Brexit effects, leaving the EU might make it quite challenging for
"Sainsbury's Supermarkets" to affordably import products from abroad
whilst an increment in the costs of the foreign items will likely be passed
on to the final customers. These moves depict that the company need to
put great effort into ensuring the consumers keep on spending as much as
possible so as to maximise profits.

Economic The rise in fuel prices tends to make it more costly in terms of

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 transportation of goods within and across the nation. Also, the "higher
wage movement" is mounting across Britain and Sainsbury's is expected
to address these to retain the stakeholders.

Social The socio-cultural trends towards eating healthy as unhealthy junk foods
are no longer entertained by the public. This trend towards making diets
healthier is an important trend that affects the business of supermarkets
like Sainsbury's as it has to adapt to the demands of the consumers for
long-term success.

Technological In the context of Sainsbury's business, the advancements within analytics

are expected to minimise wastage and maximise profits. By
incorporating these techniques, the firm can further enhance its profit
margins.

Legal Various legal ramifications of the “post-Brexit economy are another

major factor that the brand must be prepared to encounter, and it would
be needed to change many of its policies whilst running its outlets that
would fall outside of the political and economic context of the UK.

Environmental Environmental factors also affect Sainsbury's business position and

performance as the supermarket chains are potentially responsible for
huge "carbon footprints". Hence, the increasing environmental concerns
around the world would make the supermarkets like Sainbury’s to
identify new ways to become more and more environment-friendly and
consider ways to minimise ecological degradation resulting from their
business operation.

Appendix-3: VUCA analysis

Volatility "Volatility" comprises the situations where Sainsbury's has an effective

understanding of the "macro-environmental factors", and it tends to have
potential control over the tools that help it to manage the volatile
environment. For example, to tackle the increasing deregulation within the
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 service industry, Sainsbury has to carry out scenario planning and deal with
pandemic situations like COVID-19, increased automation, inventory stock
shocks, etc. It tends to restructure its supply chains, deploy higher resource
concentration, increase in-house operations and incorporate more
delegations in the value chain.

Uncertaint In order to deal with uncertain situations such as "supply chain disruptions,
y "Sainsbury took notice of the "costs of disruptions" and has been trying to
diversify its Supply Chains at the cost of expensive operations.

Complexity In the current complex environment, the firm has to manage a range of
unrelated variables in the industry where it has little control over. In
complex situations such as geostrategic competitions, increased
globalisation, and so on., Sainsbury tends to become more dependent on the
aspects that are under their control and undertake a holistic approach to
manage situations such as reducing costs, increasing operational time and so
on.

Ambiguity A situation where the company has very little understanding of the macro
factors and does not have adequate tools to manage them is called an
ambiguous situation and to tackle such a situation, such as the aftermath of
the Covid-19 breakout, Sainsbury acts according to the situation, the need of
the hour, predict and plan and against the odds.

Appendix-4: Leadership styles and theories:

Democratic Democratic leadership styles mainly focus on group equality and

leadership the "free flow of ideas". Democratic leaders thus enable active
participation of all members, valued collaboration and affirmation
of followers while providing the necessary guidance and control.

Transformational Transformational leadership is referred to as an approach which

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leadership brings change within social systems and individuals. This
leadership style tends to bring positive and valuable changes within
the followers with the end goal of turning the followers into
leaders.

Great man theory The Great man theory of leadership suggests that some "in-born"
and "innate" attributes and qualities make an individual a leader,
such as personality, physical attributes, intelligence Quotient, and
many others.

Behavioural theory As per the behavioural theory of leadership, the way leaders behave
and assume their traits can be imitated by others and it suggests that
the leaders are not innately successful but are made so on the basis
of “learnable behaviour”.

Contingency This theory suggests that differing variables within certain

Theory situations tend to determine the suitable style of leadership and
hence one should not stick to a particular leadership style for all
situations.

Situational theory As per this theory, leadership styles and approaches depend on the
situation and hence by assessing the variables of a situations like
severity of task, nature of workers, and so on, leaders must have to
change their leadership styles.

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Appendix-5: Change management model and its limitations/complexities:

Principle: It entails 3 stages, namely, unfreeze>change> refreeze. The first step is to get the
workers prepared for change and to make them aware of the upcoming change and the need
for behind it. The second stage is about making required changes and the last stage ensures
that everything is in place as per the new changes. At Sainsbury, In the first stage (unfreeze),
the current structure can be dismantled, and in the second stage (change), managers can be
trained, and a new management structure can be formed, entailing participative and
transformational leadership, and this structure can be locked by refreezing in the third stage.

Limitations: It is quite time consuming and takes long to settle down and since the changes
often occur in VUCA environment, the leader face resistance to change from the managers,
the reason being the worries and stress about their performances within the changed system.

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Appendix-6: Tuckman’s team building model

The stages of Tuckman’s model include:

Source: (Agile Scrum Guide, 2018)

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