Introduction:

Every businessperson shares a common desire to expand their business. However, there are many

obstacles that a business would need to be overcome in order to do so (Singh 2019). According to a

research studies from Barclaycard, it is noted that the biggest concern for business is the wellbeing of

its employees (Gentle 2019). Hence, in this essay we will be looking at a few management

challenges.

1.0 Leadership:

One of the management problems that is noted is poor leadership. In retrospect to the domain of

management, Leadership have always been an intriguing topic of discussion (Kornberger , Clegg &

Pitsis 2015). For instance, According to Chemers (1997),"leadership is a technique of social

influencing in which a person is able to attained the help of others people in the quest of achieving a

common objective”. Hence, due to the lack of a single standard consensus which can define the term,

many management and leadership style models such as the managerial grid have been established
(Understanding and Management Leadership Styles Checklist 256 2015 ).

Coinciding with the managerial grid, it is noted that MeiMei practised a task-management style of

leadership that differ from her father relationship-oriented style. From comparing the two different

style of leadership, it is illustrated that Mei Mei placed a low emphasis on the welfare of her

employees while putting a heavy emphasis on the company productivity, which is the opposite of her

father. Evidence of this, can be seen through both character leadership traits whereby, MeiMei is

portrayed to be goal oriented. While, her father focus is on the well-being of his employees. Likewise,

instances of both leadership style can also be seen through their actions. For example, we can clearly

see MeiMei task-management style trait through her action in increasing the production quotas by

20% at the expense of eliminating her employees idle time which differ from her father approach in

running the company by treating his employees like family.

Although, Mei Mei believed her leadership style can increased productivity, the result proves

otherwise with the performance reports indicating that the company turnover rate and staff training

cost had increased which is a stark contrast from the company previous performance. In simple

terms, this means that in order for an organization to maintain its productivity, it must establish a

positive workplace environment(Rüzgar 2018). Further, literature review on both of this leadership

style also support this theory, with results showing statistically significant effect on productivity from a

relationship-oriented style leadership compared to a goal-oriented style leadership(Fayyaz , Naheed

& Hassan 2014) .However, it is also noted that some leaders can take this approach too excessive

and this would end up hurting the productivity of its organization performance.(Stars 2019)

Recommendation:

Although, everyone are susceptible to various factors such as its individualistic unique personality

attribute that can affect their respective leadership traits, there are still ways for every individuals to

strengthen their leadership traits by controlling the requisite factors (Shirandi 2015). Furthermore, this

belief is further supported by Coats & Codrington (2014) which states that no individuals should ever

point any fingers on its organization failure due to its stagnant growth in their leadership skills and

attributes as no matter the lack of support its received , everyone can still adopt the persistent

commitment to continue strengthening their leadership craft.

In regard to management, one of the ways an individual can improve their leadership skill is by being

more approachable. For instance according to Zenger & Folkman (2013), leaders should manage

their employees with dignity rather than just giving work orders. Hence, with reference to this concept

and the case study, Mei Mei should make it a priority to improve her interpersonal skills. This is

important as literature review has evidenced that interpersonal skills such as the ability to inspire,

communicate, and etc have a strong impact on its organization performance. For example according

to (Gilley, McMillan & Gilley 2009), it is noted that when a leader has the skills to inspire its employee

than it would bring a positive effect to its organization. Thus, it is recommended that the company

human resource department should send Mei Mei to a leadership development program. As,
research results has evidence that a leadership development program can help improves an

individual soft skills by providing them an opportunity to observe the manner in how other leaders that

possessed different leadership trait from themselves would handle a similar issue (Tsyganenko 2014).

Putting it simply, this means that a leadership development program makes its impact through the

application of the social learning theory whereby an individual can improve their leadership skills by

observing, imitating and modelling from one another (Nabavi 2012).

Additionally, employee engagement is an aspect that can be improve in Mei Mei leadership. , With

referenced to the domain of management, the concept of employee engagement have always been

an important topic of discussion with many sources have its own opinion of the concept(Crosswell

2019). Instances of these can been seen in various employee engagement model such as the Penna

Model of Employee Engagement, which arranged the various factor which affects employee

engagement in an orderly manner(Vaughn 2017). In terms of its application, the Penna Model of

Employee Engagement works by helping an organization to achieve a high level of employee

engagement through categorizing the level of emphasis that is needed to be placed on each factor

(Joy & Vinod 2018). Putting it simply, Penna believes that when an organization is able to provide the

following factors such as an optimized workplace environment, opportunities to develop and

opportunities to be promoted, employee will be able to find a purpose in their job. Thus, driving them

to be more productive in nature (Mehta & Mehta 2013). Further affirmation of these opinion is also

evidenced by research result which shows that, committed staff members are about twenty-one

percent more productive than uncommitted staff members (Opin 2012). Therefore it is recommended

that, Mei Mei and the company human resource department should create an employee engagement

program which help provide growth opportunities and benefits for their employee hard work. This step

is important because when an organization make an investment in managing the overall wellbeing of

its employee. The employees would feel that they are being appreciated and thus would be less likely

to leave (Patro 2013).

 Moreover, another aspect that can be improved in Mei Mei Leadership is communication. With

respect to the field of management, the term communication conjured a wide variety of opinion from

different expert with each having their own interpretation. For instance, Anugwom (2007) explains

communication as the application of words and body language to exchange beliefs, emotions, data

and knowledge with other individuals. While in the case study, it is noted that Mei Mei practise an

organization behaviour theory of communication. In this theory of communication , the organization

places a heavy emphasis on ensuring that all of its employees would respect and move with the

direction made by the upper management of the organization(Kornberger , Clegg & Pitsis 2015).

Although such directives should be respected at times, it is still however noted that an excessive

form of one-way communication can be harmful as well(Kokemuller 2017). For instance, a huge

negative effect of excessive one-way communication is its potential to lower an organization

employee level of morale. An explanation of this negative impact can be thoroughly attributed to the

logical reasoning that when an employee loses its ability to voice their opinion, the employee would

feel underappreciated and hence would not have the desire or inspiration to be productive

(Kokemuller 2017). Thus, causing a drop in their performance level. Furthermore, it is noted that when

a communication is predominantly one sided, an organization would also tend to lose important input

from its employee. This loss of data is detrimental to the growth of an organization as without

employee input, organizational leaders will lose the opportunity to gain important insight regarding the

organization business operations from an employee perspective (Lovlyn 2016). Hence, it is

recommended that Mei Mei should improve her leadership communication by conducting frequent

focus group discussion with her employee. This action is highly advocated because through this

approach an employee can easily express their thoughts more freely. While, the leaders would be

benefited by gaining valuable insights and a much improve understanding of its employee frame of

mind(Wright 2017). Thus, improving the probability of the organization leader to retain its employees

as well as making improvement on any of its proposed changes(Mcquerrey 2019).

2.0 Change Management

Besides that, change management is another problem noted. In the context of management, Change

management is defined as an orderly approach in handling with the transition of the organization's

long and short term goals (Rouse 2019). Putting it simply this means that, change management is a

concept use by management to implement plans in effecting change and helping it’s organization

employees to adapt to the changes (Prosci 2019). This is important because every improvement is a

form of change but not every change bring benefits to an organization (Zhu 2019). For instance, this

can be seen in Mei Mei desired to improve the company productivity through closing the company

football field and phasing out the firm’s profit-sharing plan. However, the result of her action instead

causes her employees to be demotivated and a drop in the compony productivity level. Hence, from

this fact it is noted that the motivation levels within the workplace can have a direct impact on the

employee level of productivity(Scott 2019). For instance, evidence of this theory is supported by a

study on intrinsic inspiration, external benefits, and their effect on overall inspiration and productivity

which show that external inspiration can positively inspired an individual performance (Hendijani,

Diane, Arvai &Dugar 2016).

Additionally, there was a lack of understanding in managing the changes that was implemented.

Evidence of this can be explained through Lewin-change management model. In Lewin-change

management model, the process of conducting a proposed change encompass three steps

(Kornberger , Clegg & Pitsis 2015). The process starts even before a proposed change can be

conducted, whereby the proposed changes would undergo the initial step of unfreezing. This step is

important because it is a common human nature to resist any form of change. Hence, the objective

during the unfreezing phase is to help spread awareness of the needs for the proposed change to

take place to all the organization employees (Study.com 2019). After everyone is onboard with the

changes, the process continue with the next step whereby everyone will start to learn about the new

implications that is brought upon by the proposed changes. This would be the most difficult period as

most individuals will have a hard time to accept and adapt to the proposed changes (Kornberger ,

Clegg & Pitsis 2015). Thus, continuous guidance and effort would be the decisive components in

helping these individuals to adapt to the propose changes. Once, the proposed changes are accepted

by everyone. The changes will be refrozen as the new norm. During this phase, efforts must be made
by management to ensure that people do not revert back to the previous style of conduct that they are

used to before the proposed changes(Mind Tools 2019).

However, as noted in the case study the changes made by MeiMei did not follow the Lewin change

management model as it was done without consulting any of her employees. Thus, resulting in her

employee to be resistant to the new changes that was made as evidence by the increase organization

turnover rate and training cost.

Moreover, as the changes was abrupt, her employees could be suffering from cultural shock. This is

important because although mental strength varies with each individual, it must have been difficult for

her employee to adapt to such changes, especially when they have been used to past established

workplace culture (Khalife 2017). Hence, this must have caused her employees to experience a

tremendous amount of stress which subsequently lead to a drop in their productivity performance

(Lawson 2019). An affirmation of this claim is also proven in past studies which notes that the long

terms effect of stress caused by cultural shock could hamper an individual productivity level (Xia

2019).

Recommendation:

With respect to today super competitive market, it is noted that most organizations today are facing

pressure internally and externally to change the nature of their business operation (Clearspider 2019).

However, the success of implementing such changes is not easy, as past literature review has noted

that before any changes is made to an organization. It is best to have a strategic plan in place before

initiating the proposed changes(Crawford 2013). Furthermore, result from Prosci’s benchmarking

research also support this claim as it shows that when a proposed change is not well plan, many

employees would be resistant to adapt to the changes (Prosci 2019).Thus, making it difficult for the

organization to successfully implement the proposed changes.

Therefore, with regards to the case study, it is highly advisable that Mei Mei and the company human

resource department should implement a change management policy that encompass a framework

for managing the organization change such as Richard Badham 5M FRAMEWORK. This policy is

important as it helps organization to quickly adapt to today ever changing environment as well as

helping management to improve the possibility of success in implementing the proposed

changes(Change Management Coach 2019).

In terms of execution, the framework of the change management policy would begin with mindfulness

whereby the organization will conducts its due diligence before assigning the necessary resources

that is needed to implement the propose change. Once the resources is mobilized, the proposed

changes need to be mapped in order to determine the potential obstacles it would most likely

face(Kornberger , Clegg & Pitsis 2015). After the planning phase is well sorted, the organization

would then start to influencing everyone that is involved to buy in to the proposed changes. This step

would be the most difficult as a large range of skill set would be needed in order to influence the

proposed changes be adapted throughout the organization (Mah 2019). Moreover, the process does

not end with implementation of the changes as the organization would also need to reflect on the

process of implementing the changes in order to make further improvements(Badham,Cancado &

Tarief 2014).

Furthermore, as changes can also be abrupt and descriptive in nature. It is recommended that Mei

Mei create a change management program. This program is important as meeting the challenges

caused by disruptive change have always been difficult (Bain & Company 2019). For example,

instances of the negative impacts caused by the unattended disruptive change can be seen in the

case study whereby it is noted that the company turnover rate and training cost has increased

substantially from the changes made by Mei Mei. Hence, further emphasising the needs for the

organization to manage its employee resistance to change.

In regards to managing these resistance, a change management program is an ideal solution to this

problem. This is because a change management program involves actions such as providing perks

for employee to adapt to the changes as well as trouble shooting any potential problem that may

affect its employee through the proposed changes(Jalagat 2015). Thus, making it a smooth transition

for an organization to implement and manage the proposed changes.

In addition to that, since changes in an organization would usually affect all individuals within the

organization (The Balance Careers 2019). It is advisable that Mei Mei should involve all her

employees in the process of change management. This is crucial because it is impossible for

employers to expect full backing from its employee when the proposed change have a massive

impact on their role (Nink & Welte 2011). Hence, it is recommended that Mei Mei should provide a

platform for her employee to voice their opinion in the form of an employee representative committee.

This form of action is important as both parties would be equally benefited.

For instances, the organization employees would be benefited by having more of an effect on

proposed change regarding the organization. While, the organization management would gain

valuable insights that can help them make better decision before implementing any proposed

changes (Pophal 2009). Furthermore, research results have also noted that such form of action helps

to establish trust between the employee and employer. This is important as trust, play an important

role in providing inspiration for employees to follow the direction of the organization proposed

changes (Smith 2015).

Conclusion:

Generally, a relationship-oriented style leadership and a strong change management framework is

needed in order to implement and manages changes within an organization. Therefore, it is with the

organization best interest, that Mei Mei follow the above recommendation and make the necessary

changes in order to improve the organization productivity.

(2799 words)

Reference List

Anugwom, G. A, 2007 ,Issues, Principals Techniques and Practice in Administration and

Management, Enugu, EI’ Demark Publishers.

Bain & Company 2018, Change Management Programs

https://www.bain.com/insights/management-tools-change-management-programs/, accessed

27/10/19/2019, https://www.bain.com/insights/management-tools-change-management-

programs/

Badham R, Cancado V & Darief T 2014, ‘An Introduction to the 5M Framework: Reframing

Change Management Education’, Brazilian Administration Review, vol.12, no.1, accessed

27/10/2019, https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/62457463/

Publisher+version+%28open+access%29.pdf

Crawford, J 2013, Strategy for Change Management, Transforming Change Management

Organisation

Croswell, A 2019, What is employee engagement?, weblog, accessed

27/10/2019, https://www.cultureamp.com/blog/what-is-employee-engagement/

Clearspider 2019, Understanding the Importance of Change Management

, accessed 27/10/2019, https://www.clearspider.com/blog-importance-change-management/

Chemers M 1997, An Integrative Theory of Leadership, Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates, Mahwah, NJ

Coats, K & Codrington, G 2014, Leading in a Changing World: Lessons for future focused

leaders , CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform , New York.

Change Management Coach 2019 , Benefits Of Change Management, accessed 27/10/2019,

https://www.change-management-coach.com/benefits-of-change-management.html

Fayyaz H, Naheed R & Hassan A 2014, ‘Effect of Task Oriented and Relational Leadership

Style on Employee Performance; Moderating Impact of Communicator

Competence’ Journal of Marketing and Consumer Research, vol.3, accessed

16/9/2019,

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f17f/02206484204f84c726d092ef90709026edb4.pdf

Folkman, J & Zenger J 2015, ‘The Inspiring Leader Unlocking the Secret Behind How

Extraordinary Leaders Motivate ’, Working Paper

no.210, accessed 27/10/2019, https://zengerfolkman.com/wp-

content/uploads/2019/04/White-Paper_-Unlocking-The-Secret-Behind-How-Extraordinary-

Leaders-Motivate.pdf

Gentle,S 2019, Almost six in ten leaders of scaling businesses have faced a moment

of crisis, accessed 16/9/2019, https://www.onrec.com/news/statistics-and-

trends/almost-six-in-ten-leaders-of-scaling-businesses-have-faced-a-moment-of

Gilley A, McMillan, H.S & Gilley, J.W 2009, ‘Organizational change and characteristics of

leadership effectiveness’, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, vol. 16, no. 1,

pp. 38-47, accessed 27/10/18, http://cstl-

hcb.semo.edu/hmcmillan/Pubs/Gilley_McMillan_Gilley_2009.pdf

Hendijani, R, Diane,B,Arvai, J,&Dugar, S 2016, ‘Intrinsic motivation, external

reward, and their effect on overall motivation and performance’, Research Gate

Journal, accessed 16/9/2019, https:// www.researchgate.net/publication/301742894

Intrinsic_motivation_external_reward_and_their_effect_on_overall_motivation_and
 _performance and_their_effect_on_overall_motivation_and_performance?

enrichId=rgreq-3ecf72020d3763a401455da1fe645586- XXX&enrichSource=Y

292ZXJQYWdlOzMwMTc0Mjg5 NDtBUzozNjcwNzg2 MDAxMzQ2NTZAM

TQ2NDUyOTc2NjA0NQ%3D%3D&el

=1_x_3&_esc=publicationCoverPdf

Joy, G & Vinod,S 2018, ‘Intrinsic motivation, external

reward, and their effect on overall motivation and performance’, Journal of Management

Research and Analysis, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 78-81, accessed 27/10/19,

https://www.academia.edu/37626078/EMPLOYEE_ENGAGEMENT-

MODELS_AND_ORGANISATIONAL_IMPLICATIONS

Jalagat, R 2015, ‘The Impact of Change and Change Management in Achieving Corporate

Goals and Objectives: Organizational Perspective’, International Journal of Science and

Research (IJSR), vol.5, no.11, pp. 1233 -1237, accessed 27/10/19,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310828676_The_Impact_of_Change_and

_Change_Management_in_Achieving_Corporate

_Goals_and_Objectives_Organizational_Perspective

Kokemuller ,N 2017, The Disadvantages of One-Way Communication ,

accessed 27/10/2019, https://bizfluent.com/info-8307652-disadvantages-oneway-

communication.html

Khalife, C 2017, The Impact Of Chronic Work Stress On Your Employees , accessed

16/9/2019, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293336

Kornberger M, Clegg & S, Pitsis T 2016, Managing and Organizations: An Introduction to

Theory and Practice,4th edition, SAGE Publications Ltd , Singapore.

Lawson, AJ 2018 ‘Culture Shock in the Workplace, weblog post, Penn State, 16th

September, accessed 16/9/2019, https://sites.psu.edu/global/2018/01/18/culture-shock-

in-the-workplace/
Lovlyn, E 2016, ‘The Role of Effective Communication in Strategic Management of

Organizations’, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol.6,no.12,pp 93-

99, accessed 27/10/19,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication

/327212629_THE_ROLE_OF_EFFECTIVE_

COMMUNICATION_IN_STRTEGIC_MANAGEMENT_OF_ORGANIZATIONS

Mah, O 2019, 5Ms of Managing Change, accessed 27/10/2019,

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5ms-managing-change-osman-mah/

Mcquerrey, L 2019, Advantages of Employee Focus Group Discussions , accessed

16/9/2019, https://smallbusiness.chron.com/

advantages-employee-focus-group-discussions-17997.html

Mind Tools 2019, Lewin's Change Management Model Understanding the Three

Stages of Change, accessed 16/9/2019,

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_94.htm

Mehta, D & Mehta N 2013, ‘Employee Engagement: A Literature Review’, Economia. Seria

Management,vol.16,no.2,pp 208-215,accessed 27/10/19,

http://www.management.ase.ro/reveconomia/2013-2/1.pdf

Nink, M & Welte, K 2011, Involving Employees in Change, accessed 27/10/19,

https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/150932/involving-employees-change.aspx

Nabavi, R.T 2012, ‘Bandura’s Social Learning Theory & Social Cognitive Learning

Theory’,Theories of Developmental Psychology, vol.1, no.1, pp 5-10, accessed 27/10/19

,https://www.researchgate.net/publication

/267750204_Bandura's_Social_Learning_Theory_Social_Cognitive_Learning_Theory
Opin 2012, Engaged vs. Disengaged Employees

, accessed 27/10/2019, https://www.opin.ca/en/article/engaged-vs-disengaged-employees

Patro, CS 2013,’The Impact of Employee Engagement On Organization Productivity’,

Research Gate Journal,pp 1-9, accessed 27/10/19,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/

281967834_The_Impact_of_Employee_Engagement

_on_Organization%27s_Productivity?enrichId=rgreq-

80cf829c726846122064e7e53f9ada7f-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOz

I4MTk2NzgzNDtBUzoyNzYwNzUwNDk2

NDgxMjhAMTQ0MjgzMjgyOTI0Mw%3D%3D&el=1_x_3&_esc=publicationCoverPdf

Pophal 2009, Could You Benefit from an

Employee Benefits Committee?, accessed 27/10/2019,

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/

hr-topics/benefits/pages/benefitscommittee.aspx

Prosci 2019, Definition of Change Management, accessed 16/9/2019,

http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/KKhp/1insects/beetles.html

Rüzgar1 N 2018, ‘The Effect of Leaders’ Adoption of Task-Oriented or

Relationship-Oriented Leadership Style on Leader-Member Exchange

(LMX), In the Organizations That Are Active In Service Sector: A Research on

Tourism Agencies’, Journal of Business Administration Research , vol.7, no.1,

accessed 16/9/2019,

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4d1c/a2ee2f6465c647a51458d82664cdbebe43b4.pdf
Rouse,M 2019 , definition-change management, accessed 16/9/2019,

https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/change-management

Scott, S 2019, Motivation & Productivity in the Workplace, accessed 16/9/2019,

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/motivation-productivity-workplace-10692.html

Singh,P 2019 , The Most Common Challenges Faced by Growing

Companies, accessed 16/9/2019, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/328995

Stars 2019, Leadership (student module): Leadership Style, accessed 16/9/2019,

https://www.starscomputingcorps.org/leadership-student-module-leadership-styles

Shirandi, F 2015, ‘Overcoming Leadership Flaws’, Journal of Business & Economic

Policy,vol.2, no.1, pp60-61,accessed 27/10/18,

http://jbepnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_1_March_2015/7.pdf

Study.com 2019, Lewin's 3-Stage Model of Change: Unfreezing, Changing & Refreezing ,

accessed 27/10/2019, https://study.com/academy/lesson/lewins-3-stage-model-of-change-

unfreezing-changing-refreezing.html

Smith, C 2015, 7 Tips to Help Build

Trust When Implementing Change accessed 27/10/19, https://change.walkme.com/7-tips-

to-help-build-trust-when-implementing-change/

The Balanced Careers 2019 , Change Management Lessons About Employee Involvement ,

accessed 27/10/2019, https://www.thebalancecareers.com/change-management-lessons-

about-employee-involvement-1917806

Tsyganenko,M.V 2014, ‘The Effect of a Leadership Development Program on

Behavioral and Financial Outcomes: Kazakhstani Experience’, Journal of Social and

 Behavioral Sciences, vol. 124, pp. 486-495, accessed 27/10/18,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270846664_

The_Effect_of_a_Leadership_Development_

Program_on_Behavioral_and_Financial_Outcomes_Kazakhstani_Experience

Understanding and Management Leadership Styles Checklist 256 2015, Chartered

Management Institute, Corby, Northants , accessed 16/9/2019,

https://www.managers.org.uk/~/media/Files/PDF/Checklists/CHK-256-

Understanding-management-and-leadership-styles.pdf

Vaughn, G 2017, How to Measure Employee Engagement for a Better Workplace ,accessed

27/10/19, https://blog.zef.fi/en/how-to-measure-employee-engagement-for-a-better-

workplace

Wright, H 2017, Employee Focus Groups: Your Superpower for Improving Employee

Engagement, accessed 27/10/19, https://www.quantumworkplace.com/future-of-

work/employee-focus-groups-your-superpower-improving-employee-engagement/

Xia, J 2009 ‘Analysis of Impact of Culture Shock on Individual Psychology’

International Journal Of Psychological Studies, vol.1, no.2 ,accessed16/9/2019,

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f17f/02206484204f84c726d092ef90709026edb4.pdf

Zhu, P 2019 ‘Change vs Improvement’, weblog post, Future of CIO, 16th September,

accessed 16/9/2019, http://futureofcio.blogspot.com/2013/09/change-vs-

improvement.html