Essay: Leadership Strategies Of Harvey Norman." (49 Characters)

Leadership Strategies

Discuss about the Leadership Strategies of Harvey Norman.

Leadership comprises of basic ability and skill of an individual to get work done. It is a process where an individual through his judgmental skills and knowledge helps in achieving the individual and group goals. The main aim of a leader is to lead the organization in achieving targets (Fairholm, 2011). Some of the quality which a leader should posses are as follows:  he should be focused, confident, passionate, achiever, accountable, credible, determined, responsible, committed etc. Abovementioned are the fundamental traits which are seen in a leader. A leader is born not made is a common quote which focuses on the qualities which a leader should have. It is only due to the hard work and dedication of leader an organization achieves its targets (Powell, 2012).

The success of an organization depends upon the capability of the leader who guides to adopt the changes. The recent changes in the business practices has affected in successful obtaining the required results. Leadership plays a significant role in changing the business approach to enforce the required plan. The quality of leadership has to do with the clear vision of the leader. The ability of a company doesn’t depend upon the single leadership but the chain of commands. Leadership includes both the formal and informal leadership styles. The quality of the leadership depends upon the current and the future projects. It is depicted through the number of business functions, location, reporting relationship etc (Schein, 2006). There is a regular need to adopt the business behavior, strategy and to form the desired competencies. The group leadership capabilities depends upon the strategies, response to the threat, adopt the change and supporting the innovation. The desired leadership practice involves collaboration across boundaries, accepting different responsibilities and learning the people behavior to lead the organization. A good leadership strategy counts each of the factors into practice. A leadership strategy helps us to make an estimate of the number of leaders which are required in an organization. There are very few organizations which have an explicit leadership strategy. Like business strategy leadership strategy are based on examining the situations. The strategy helps in suggesting the gap in between the current and the future situation. The desired goals can be framed after framing the leadership strategy. It helps in formulating the required future state, inference for talent management etc. Finally the leadership strategy helps in emphasizing the business strategies as per the required talent (Sperry, 2013) (Passmore, 2014).

Leadership Qualities

The leadership strategy should be motivated by the business strategies which are specified in the business plan. It highly depend upon many factors like quantity of leaders, leadership quality, skills of the individual land the group, capabilities of the organization, the leadership culture, etc (Manion,2011).

There is a requirement of great leaders who enhance the overall productivity sitting at the top level. Enhanced language skills in the leader helps in building strong cross-cultural relationships Greater understanding of local laws and business arrangements in strategy making. Great senses of responsibility among the leaders help in effective collaboration of the new product. There is a need to need increase leadership involvement across different zones to gather information related to the consumer product which will help in making profitable transactions. Great leaders have acumen to anticipate the rapid growing capital market.  A leader has vision regarding the future changes which can influence the trends in an organization. A great leader is responsible for the success of the organization.  Most of the big organization is successful due to the skills of leader. They help others to grow with them under their influence. It is necessary that an organization profess efficient leadership to achieve the required goals (Maxwell, 2007) (Glanz, 2002).

It is true that the success of an organization depends upon the leader largely. The key behavior to achieve the target is the skills of the leaders. The success of Harvey Norman depends upon the dedication and vision of Gerry Harvey leadership. His behavior towards the employee and business has led the success of the organization. His ability to lead the organization highly affects his role and the achievement of the company. He is responsible for the success of the organization for the past 26 years. It’s due to his dedication the company is working under three brands name not only in Australia but other countries as well (Kirby,2011).

Harvey Norman is an Australian based company which deals in furniture, bedding, computers, communications and other electronic goods. Gerry Norman and Ian Norman is the founder of Harvey Norman. They started their first store in the year1961. There are more than 166 Harvey Norman franchised places in Australia as on 30 June 2015. The company is listed on the Australian Exchange and has 86 over-sea operations. Gerry Harvey is the founder of the company and owns 30 percent of the holdings. The major factor for the success of the brand all over Australia is his retail savvy attitude. He understands the market trends and the business tools which are essential for the organization to achieve a pleasant growth under different circumstances. It is only due to his idea the company has shown commendable results over the past years. He provides his employees all the resources to bloom under variable situations. He welcomes suggestion from his staff which has helped the employees to behave in the favor of the organization (Company Profile, 2016).

Description of the Leader

Gerry Harvey was born on18 September 1939 in Springwood, New South Wales. He is one of the largest business entrepreneurs in Australia. He is the chairman of Harvey Norman Holdings which are providing franchise to the electronic goods retailer in Australia. He has become successful due to persistent hard work and dedication. He has resisted the notion of hiring the professional managers and board members which may affect the success of the organization. It is Harvey which introduced personal computer to the people in Australia. His leadership skills are one of the best in the world. He married Katie Page in the year 1988, who is his business partner and working as a CEO for the company. Both Gerry and Page are regarded as the best business couple who are taking Harvey Norman to the indefinite heights. Gerry’s leadership style is considered to be one of the most influential styles. The success of Harvey Norman is due to his persistent efforts and leadership goals. Harvey Norman follows 6 major elements regarding business modeling strategies which are production of huge diversified products, following a competitive strategies, managing people , selling products through ownership and franchising, appearance in social events and investment in properties (Kidman and Feher,2016) (Perera and Pudney,2013).

A leader has a responsibility to manage the organization with his vision. A leader has to play various roles in the success of the organization. He is the one who is responsible to share information within the organization through his interpersonal skills. Gerry is the heart and soul of Harvey Norman where he is responsible to take significant decisions in the favor of the company. He is the central head of the company as majority of decisions flow from him. Effective implementation of policies by Gerry can be seen in the vision of the company (Humphrey, 2010).

An individual personal skill is responsible for the success of the organization. A leader has a set of goals which helps him in the success of the organization. It is witnessed that effective leadership helps in the growth of the organization.  Gerry is the face for Harvey Norman who interacts with the media and makes public appearances. He feels that it is essential to interact with the public to achieve the faith of stakeholders. A visionary has to adopt the changes as per the current situations. Gerry lacks vision like other leaders he is still focused on issuing franchisee to the small retailers. The world is changing rapidly where it is essential to adopt the changes in the environment. For sustainability it is essential to adopt the changes as per the growing trends. The strength of the organization depends upon the adaptability with the current situation.  It is necessary for a leader to be flexible with his approach. The expansion of an organization depends upon the surroundings.  Ethical business practice is important in the global business scenario. This characteristic is exhibited by Mr. Gerry in conducting business. As per the record he is the lowest paid CEO in Australia (Samson and Daft,2012).

Company Profile

Leadership styles are the different ways in which a leader provides direction to the people. There are various leadership styles which are described by various authors. Different leaders exhibit different leadership style. Leadership style depends upon the individual qualities which develop due to influence in various fields (Bonnici and Cooper,2011).

The leader dictates over his subordinate and controls all the activities of the organization. There is lesser participation of members and they are obliged to follow the leader. He emphasize on maintaining a distance from his followers. This leadership style focus on following the vision of the leader. This type of leadership skill can create a fear in the mind of the people. The subordinates are bound to obey the instruction from the authority. There is a very less scope when they can rebel against any change; hence the subordinates are bound to obey the instructions from their seniors ( Iqbal,2011).

 An approach where a leader acts as a dominant authority and manages his employees like an extended family .The leader believes his employees to obey him and to do as per his instructions. Workers under this style are asked to be committed towards their leaders. The leaders and the subordinates share a string relationship. The leader treats the workers as the part of their family. The disadvantage of this approach is the leader follows favoritism in the organization which affects the personal relations of the employees. Workers who follow this approach showcase better organizational skills. The reward system motivates the worker to work in a good faith (Gennard and Judge, 2002).

 It is a leadership theory where the leaders supervise through both rewards and punishment. If the work is done properly employees get the credit if not they, they are given punishment. It is also known as managerial leadership which promotes compliance by the followers. This approach is not focused on changing the future but is concerned for keeping the same situation. The leaders keep an eye on the followers to find the fault. This leadership is effective in managing the organization in emergency situation.

 This leadership style is also known as participative leadership style where the members are given rights to exchange the ideas. The leaders encourages sharing of idea and flow of knowledge within the organization. This style is suitable in a dynamic organization. This leadership style helps in bringing the best out of professional team. The leader allows sharing of ideas for the benefit of the company. It is well noticed that the company can grow when the team mate share healthy relationship. If the ideas of leaders are open to make discussion it will create healthy relationship within the organization. This helps in equal participation from the employees which create a sense of belongingness.

Gerry Harvey

 It is a French term which means a system where the leader leaves the decision making process on the mercy of the subordinate without much interference. Subordinate are given liberty in decision making process. All decision making rights are given to the workers. It gives complete freedom to the workers to make decisions as per their wish. They follow the system of self rule with the support of the leader. The guidance of the leaders helps them to achieve the required targets which are essentially important. This type of leadership style is focused on accomplishing the goals of the employees rather than focusing on the organizational goals. It is stated that this type of leadership style is famous in the case of highly skilled employees who has an experience in their respective field.

Gerry Harvey is seen as the successful CEO who is responsible for the consistent growth of Harvey Norman. He leads a very normal life like the other employees of the organization. His vision involves sharing of ideas among the employees is essential for the success of the organization. Like other CEO who has a well furnished office and amenities Gerry believes in living an average person life. He pays a regular visit to the stores to check the regular business and employee’s level of involvement. His hard work and entrepreneurial skills has helped in contributing to the achievement of the retail chain (Pride, Hughes and Kapoor, 2009).

Gerry style of conducting the business is very old fashioned. Lack of adaptability to change in the present scenario can cause threat to the organization. The company is still focused on issuing franchise to the independent retailer. In the era of technology they should focus on changing their business style in the good faith of the organization. The current period has seen a growth in the online shopping. Most of the people around the world are opting buying goods online rather than physical shopping. His approach of doing business is bureaucratic where he is ignoring the global changing scenario. There is a need to introduce respective changes adopting the global necessity (Online retailing threatens Australia,2012).

Effective leader uses an appropriate influential style to affect the decision making of the employees significantly.  The negotiating power of the leader helps in deciding in common whereas the power to bargain is the quality in the leader to make situation in his favor. Gerry believes in exerting his influence over the employees to affect the decision making. He follows a policy to resolve the differences in between the level of operations. Forcing employees creates fear in their mind which stops them to achieve the targets.

Managerial Role

 With globalization the world is shrinking into a small place where people of every race, creed, and nationality are included in the workforce. Multi cultural leadership is where one accepts the difference in culture and appreciates the contribution from each individual and believes in growth of whole world (Pewit et al. 2011). Gerry Harvey is expanding its business to other nations which has helped in creating opportunities at the local level. A multi-cultural leader helps in developing the relationship with other countries as he knows that this would benefit him in his growth. 

Harvey Norman is the most famous retail store in Australia. It has become a household name and preferred by most of the Australians due to its wide availability. Their motto “Go Harvey” motivates its employees to make an extra contribution by providing to its customers the distinguished services. Their mission is to create a sense of responsibility with the employees in achieving the goals. Due to immense global competition it has seen that the retail sector is facing a major challenge from the international stores (McLachlan,2015).There strategy involves production of large goods, selling the goods at competitive rates and managing the people through franchising.

Most of the business of Harvey Norman is conducted through their retail store. Gerry Norman is a pioneer of physical buying rather than online shopping. For meeting the purpose he is following the strategy of expansion. His vision is correlated with his way of conducting business. For this purpose he is planning for the expansion across the globe. They have taken over a strong market position. The subsequent acquisition of many brands has provided the brand with the cutting edge. The retail stores are expanding at a considerable rate and are gaining popularity. It’s under the leadership of Gerry the company is making distinguish changes in the process of undertaking the motive of the employees to another level. Gerry considered that the employees are essential for an organizational growth. It is due to their efforts the company can survive for a long run( Hubbard, Rice and Galvin,2014).

At present the company is operating in more than 13 countries with multiple stores which are meeting the quality standards.
Gerry vision is to expand the business opportunity and make the slogan “Go Harvey “famous across the globe.

Gerry is very liberal with his approach. The employees are allowed to share their suggestions with him anytime they want (Company Profile,2016).

Personal Role

There talent acquisition programs and employees retention schemes are considered to be best. For this purpose they are benefiting their employees with multiple opportunities. They have introduced several schemes which re as

1. Providing a discount on the rentals to the employees
2. After 6 months of employment the employees are given extra benefit like laptops, tablets etc
3. They provide car on lease to the employees under the benefit schemes which save them under any tax.
4. They promote healthy job environment and helps in flexible working environment (BENEFITS,2016).

Harvey Norman should focus on developing online sale of goods. A recent trend has shown that the consumers are inclined towards shopping goods online. The current leadership under the guidance of Gerry Harvey would help the organization to grow in the coming years.

Moreover the market strategies are based on providing the franchises to the small retailers. This has created employment opportunities. The leadership strategies of Gerry Harvey are focused and creating differential opportunities. The retail sector has created maximum opportunities for employment in Australia. Harvey Norman should frame their strategies focusing on the development of the employees under the leadership strategies off Gerry Harvey.

Conclusion

The report focuses on the different style of leadership which is practiced across the world. Technology has created ample of opportunities in different part of the world. Organizations are adopting different strategies as per the necessity. The growing needs of leadership have gained importance in the recent time. The project discusses the leadership style of Harvey Norman under the leadership of Gerry Harvey. He is the face behind the success of the organization. It discusses various leadership styles which he is focusing on by consistently focusing on the mission of the organization. Employees are the asset of any organization, it is necessary for an employer to consistently motivating them to increase the overall productivity. Gerry Harvey has helped in motivating the organization in the past two decades which has helped the organization in making big name. 

References 

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