Leadership Assesment

I have had many jobs over the last 10 years but I think there is one that left me the most knowledge when it comes to leadership motivation, and also I think that it left a positive impact on me. The company I am going to describe is Victoria’s Secret. I was the operations and staffing supervisor at one of the retail stores, my direct report was the brand delivery and operations manager and this is the person who I want to describe. She had excellent leadership skills, and even though some of the decisions she made sometimes didn’t seem fair they taught me how to be fair and to treat everyone with respect and equally.

What I learned was that as a manager we should always make sure we motivate our team and recognize their efforts as well as coach their mistakes. Her biggest skill was the motivation of the team; if the team was happy and motivated then they would always do a better job. Some of the negative things that I observed from here where that sometimes she had preferences for some employees than others, and sometimes she didn’t give everyone the chance to grow and develop inside the company. Even though this was a negative impact, I learned that it was wrong and that everyone deserves a chance to evolve. (Williams, 2013)

Organizational Structure

The organizational structure and culture of the company is based on retail and customer service. They made sure everyone had appropriate training to realize that the customer was always the first priority. The approach helped me learn that every business has a priority and that we have to be flexible to learn a develop skills in each job that we may have.

Customer service is a really important on the retail business. This is why during the hiring process I had to focus on whether the candidate was going to do an excellent job with customer service. I learned from my boss that skills can always be improved and the way she handled it was trough motivation and recognition. When an associate was doing a really good job with the customers then she recognized their efforts and motivated them to continue the hard work and that always led to great customer service as well as better sells for the store.

Ethical Conduct

The ethical conduct was great other than the issue I mentioned before about some favoritism. If we really think about it that is consider discrimination. She had great communication skills and made sure every employee knew they had the right to an open policy which enabled them to give feedback and also to provide their opinions for better success. (Ng, E., & Sears, G 2012)

Best practices

1. Know and care about the concerns of your employees: Employers should take the time to talk to them and discuss their priorities and desires. Frequent informal conversations will help know more about them as individuals and enable the employer to better understand what really motivates each of their employees. 2. Develop and communicate a compelling organizational vision: People become motivated if they are excited about the purpose, the goals of the organization and how they can contribute towards achieving them. If the employer communicates a clear vision with passion and enthusiasm.

Each employee needs to understand how their own work contributes towards the company achieving its goals. To be motivated, they need to be confident that their work makes a difference. 3. Ensure compensation and other rewards and benefits are fair. There are a number of extrinsic rewards that have a short-term impact on motivation. Salary increases, company stock options, bonuses, vacation days or upgrades to the work environment will be appreciated by your employees.

However all of these basic motivational tools can become “de-motivators” if they are not used fairly. Employees will compare their compensation packages with others, and will become discouraged if they perceive inequities. Employees need to know that they will receive appropriate and fair rewards and recognition for their achievements. (Kumar, S 2011) 4. Train managers to be effective

When managers are trained and are capable of giving the employees encouragement and reward them for their good performance, they are using a tool of motivation. Training is one the most important tools for success in any business because when managers know how to deal with situations then they can coach and develop plans for the employee to be better at their job.

Challenges when managing diversity

There are challenges to managing a diverse work population. Managing diversity is more than simply acknowledging differences in people. It involves recognizing the value of differences, combating discrimination, and promoting inclusiveness. Managers may also be challenged with losses in personnel and work productivity due to prejudice and discrimination and complaints and legal actions against the organization (Devoe, 1999). Negative attitudes and behaviors can be barriers to organizational diversity because they can harm working relationships and damage morale and work productivity (Esty, et al., 1995).

Negative attitudes and behaviors in the workplace include prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination, which should never be used by management for hiring, retention, and termination practices. A diverse workforce is a reflection of a changing world and marketplace. Diverse work teams bring high value to organizations. Respecting individual differences will benefit the workplace by creating a competitive edge and increasing work productivity. Diversity management benefits associates by creating a fair and safe environment where everyone has access to opportunities and challenges. Management tools in a diverse workforce should be used to educate everyone about diversity and its issues, including laws and regulations. Most workplaces are made up of diverse cultures, so organizations need to learn how to adapt to be successful

Business Plan

Effective managers are aware that certain skills are necessary for creating a successful, diverse workforce. First, managers must understand discrimination and its consequences. Second, managers must recognize their own cultural biases and prejudices (Koonce, 2001). Diversity is not about differences among groups, but rather about differences among individuals. Each individual is unique and does not represent or speak for a particular group. Finally, managers must be willing to change the organization if necessary (Koonce, 2001). Organizations need to learn how to manage diversity in the workplace to be successful in the future (Flagg, 2002). Unfortunately, there is no single recipe for success.

It mainly depends on the manager’s ability to understand what is best for the organization based on teamwork and the dynamics of the workplace. According to Roosevelt (2001), managing diversity is a comprehensive process for creating a work environment that includes everyone. When creating a successful diverse workforce, an effective manager should focus on personal awareness. Both managers and associates need to be aware of their personal biases. Therefore, organizations need to develop, implement, and maintain ongoing training because a one-day session of training will not change people’s behaviors (Koonce, 2001). Managers must also understand that fairness is not necessarily equality.

There are always exceptions to the rule. Managing diversity is about more than equal employment opportunity and affirmative action (Losyk, 1996). Managers should expect change to be slow, while at the same time encouraging change (Koonce, 2001). Another vital requirement when dealing with diversity is promoting a “safe” place for associates to communicate (Koonce, 2001). Social gatherings and business meetings, where every member must listen and have the chance to speak, are good ways to create dialogues. Managers should implement policies such as mentoring programs to provide associates access to information and opportunities. Also, associates should never be denied necessary, constructive, critical feedback for learning about mistakes and successes (Flagg, 2002).

Conclusion

Anytime we have a job at any place there are always positive and negative outcomes that always allow us to have a better understanding of our job and a learning experience.

The good leadership of a team leader is always important, these leaders can motivate and reward employees and make sure they are feeling good at the place of work. Diversity can always be a difficult challenge to manage, however there are many practices that will help managers handle it in a professional way and to make sure everyone has the same opportunities and chances equally. Developing plans can help leaders use their skills in a complete way. It is important that leaders communicate and decide what is best for the team and also listen to the team members because they can have great ideas that can help the company overall.

References
Williams, C. (2013). Management (5Th edition ed.). mason, Ohio: cenage learning. Ng, E., Sears, G (2012). CEO Leadership Styles and the Implementation of Organizational Diversity Practices; Moderating Effects of Social Values and Age. Journal of Business Ethics, 105(1), 41-52. Doi: 10.1007/s10551-0011-0933-7

Kumar, S. (2011) Motivating Employees: An exploratory Study on Knowledge Workers. South Asian Journal of Management, 18(#), 26-47 Devoe, Deborah. (1999). Managing a diverse workforce. San Mateo, CA: InfoWorld Media Group Esty, Katharine, Richard Griffin, and Marcie Schorr-Hirsh (1995). Workplace diversity. A managers guide to solving problems and turning diversity into a competitive advantage. Avon, MA: Adams Media Corporation. Koonce, Richard. (2001). Redefining diversity: It’s not just the right thing to do; it also makes good business sense. Training and Development, December. Loysk, Bob. (1996). Managing a changing workforce: Acheiving outstanding service with todays employees. Davie, FL: Workplace Trends Publishing.