Malik Al-Huseini, ID#:140752 B713_1,TMA01, section 1 Dr.

Mohammed Al-Haziazi, spring 2014/2015

Arab Open University

Tutor Marked Assignment (TMA 01)
Academic Year 20 14 - 2015 Semester Second, Spring

Program: MBA
Branch:OMAN
Course Title: Fundamentals of Senior Management Course Code: B 713 I

Student Name: Malik Said Abdulla Al-Huseini

Student ID: 140752

Section Number:1 Tutor Name: Dr. Mohammed Al-Haziazi

Total Mark:

Questions Q1 Q2 Q3 Total

Allocated Marks Weight 40 40 20

Marks /100
Allocated Marks Criteria Presentation Referencing/In-text Word Count Total
Citations
Marks /-05 /-10 /-20
Deduction /-05
100 /100

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A. According to the Arab Open University By-laws, “the following acts represent cases of cheating and
Plagiarism:
 Verbatim copying of printed material and submitting them as part of TMAs without proper
academic acknowledgement and documentation.
 Verbatim copying of material from the Internet, including tables and graphics.
 Copying other students’ notes or reports.
 Using paid or unpaid material prepared for the student by individuals or firms.
B. Penalties for plagiarism ranges from failure in the TMA to expulsion from the university.

Declaration: I hereby declare that the submitted TMA is my own work and I have not copied any other person’s
work or plagiarized in any other form as specified above.
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Tutor’s Feedback

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Malik Al-Huseini, ID#:140752 B713_1,TMA01, section 1 Dr.Mohammed Al-Haziazi, spring 2014/2015

Word Count ( 2669)

Introduction
Nowadays management and leadership are necessary for every business in order to grow and
keep its position in the competitive market. The purpose of this assignment is to identify the
requirements, which is required by a young manager and leader of Cloths and Accessories' store
that had been declining in performance. The first section of this assignment discusses the
readiness of Oliveira for the new job that had been given to him and discuss the requirements of
a leadership such as, set up his vision, align the employees and motivate the staff in the store. In
addition, it describes the process of implement the changes. The following section will cover
reflection on Oliveira approach critically on leading the changes process in the store and how to
manage the store based on the leadership perspective. Moreover ,it explains some issues that
must be exist in Oliveira as a leader such as ,power, influence and strategies for change. The
third section will highlights the reaction of the store manager Prado against Oliveira. Finally, the
conclusion will sum up the recommendation which should be followed by Oliveira in order to
lead the store.
Oliveira readiness for the job and how he should implement the changes.
Oliveira had been assigned to manage the clothes and Accessories store in downtown Vitoria
which had dramatically worsened in last five years and this is a challenge for a young person to
make a change in his managerial position. This section is going to discuss the Oliveira readiness
and how change can be implemented using his management skills. Readiness for his job was
gained by working in the Recife store that he had earned the experience by working in all aspects
of business such as unloaded trucks, served as cashier, led small departments , acted as a store
supervisor and sometimes working as store manager when full time manager has long vacation.
after working in many branches with employees, he had earned respect and friendship from all
staff. Then, according to his good performance, he was promoted to be a manager and given a
new assignment as leading and managing a store, which had been declining in performance. As a
leadership in new position, Oliveira try to implement some talent that gained during his training.

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Malik Al-Huseini, ID#:140752 B713_1,TMA01, section 1 Dr.Mohammed Al-Haziazi, spring 2014/2015

He started to implement the advice that had given to him to know all the employees in the
organization and making meeting with each person, which mean that you have to make all
employees to respect and love the leadership. This is because good leaders love those that follow
them and this may look different for different ages and places. So that, all employees want
what’s best for them and care about them above any project. Then, he started to set meeting with
the store management team and give his order for everyone to stop their work and help other
departments when there are more customer and started to change some of departments operations
from current system of planning and designating functions by people.
leadership can be defined as a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of
employees in the organization to reach the goal and he must implement major changes that are
very necessary to survive and compete effectively in new environment( Kruse, 2013 ).
Therefore ,Oliveira as leader for this branch of clothes and accessories should make change by
setting a direction and developing a vision of the future of the store along with strategies for
producing the changes that are needed to achieve the vision of organization . Vision is not only
drives the leader to achieve the goal, but is able to drive others and good leaders know how to
take a vision that has been birthed in employee and spread it to the people that follow them and
the people around them. Good leaders know how to spread that vision and get people excited
about it as if it is their own. Since the function of leadership is to produce change, setting the
direction of that change is fundamental to leadership. Oliveira should gather data and look for
patterns, relationships, and linkages that help explain things in the organization. The direction
setting for him will create vision and strategies, which can describe a business, technology, or
corporate culture in terms of what it should become over the long term and articulate a feasible
way of achieving this goal.

Next, he can follow a strategy that called aligning people which means communicating the new
direction to those who can create coalitions that understand the vision and are committed to its
achievement and improving the performance in the store. Aligning people is different which
involves talking to many more individuals than organizing does. The target population can
involve not only a manager’s subordinates but also bosses, peers, staff in other parts of the
organization, as well as suppliers, government officials, and even customers. So who can help
implement the vision and strategies or who can block implementation is relevant. Then, Oliveira
to achieve vision of store requires motivating and inspiring which means keeping people moving

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Malik Al-Huseini, ID#:140752 B713_1,TMA01, section 1 Dr.Mohammed Al-Haziazi, spring 2014/2015

in the right direction, despite major obstacles to change, by appealing to basic but often untapped
human needs, values, and emotions. Successful motivation inspiration can ensure that staff in the
store will have the energy to overcome obstacles (kotter, 2001).

The suggestion that are needed to improve and implement a talent for management process
which refers to the range of activities engaged in by an organization to enhance the performance
of a target person or group with the ultimate purpose of developing organizational effectiveness
(DeNisi, 2000). Leading the store by Oliveira or any new leader for any organization must
implement all the skills which are needed to improve their organization to achieve the goal. It is
clear that skills will be important for Oliveira as to exercise leadership. Effective persuasion
depends on knowledge and expertise. Some talent management which are related to his behavior
is Interpersonal skills .This skills are very important in activities such as networking that could
enhance his knowledge and help him to build relationships with all employees. Also, this ability
lead a group depends on influence both within and outside the group . Communication skills are
needed in conjunction with all the skills a leader possesses and it is perhaps the most important
way of leadership (Cameron, 2003) . The leader must have a clear understanding of the message
that he is communicating and he must be aware that the aim of communication is to influence the
allocation of attention of the organization's members (Cyert, 1990).

The reflection on Oliveira's approach critically on leading the turnaround process and
what could be done differently by him. When Oliveira arrived to his new workplace as a store
manager and leading the turnaround a store that had been declining in performance .He arrived a
few days before starting his new mission to explore the city which I think will be best for a new
employee to adapt with weather in new place of working. After that, he was welcomed by his
future direct reports and showed to him to his new office . Then, he met the outgoing manager
which explained to him the problem that causes the declining of the downtown Vitoria but, he
decided to focus on factors inside the store before worrying about the issue outside the store and
this point I don’t agree with him because he must worry about outside environment that can
attract people and could increase the profit of the store. Also, the outgoing manager described to
him the supervisors and department leader and their experience and during these first couple
days in the store, he watched vigilantly for operational improvement the he could leverage as he
worked to turn's the store performance around. The store was not crowded and few people were

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Malik Al-Huseini, ID#:140752 B713_1,TMA01, section 1 Dr.Mohammed Al-Haziazi, spring 2014/2015

standing in either fitting room or cashier .Also, he noted that the showcase of store was not clean
and he was bothered to see none of the employee were smiling. Oliveira now is a leader as the
assignment that given to him and started to make a change in the store ,so for a new leader he
must know the skills of leadership and difference between the duties of management and
leadership. Leadership is making change in the organization to survive and compete in the
market. So that, according to transformational leadership which is defined as a process where
leaders and their employees raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation
(Midtools.com,2015 ). In addition, an effective leader is a person who does and creates an
inspiring vision of the future of the company, motivates and inspires employees to engage with
his vision, manages delivery of the vision and coaches and builds a team, so it will be more
effective at achieving his vision. These are some skills that are needed for a leadership in any
organization to achieve the goal.

Oliveira started his mission by remembering the advice that was given to him which is getting
know your people first. This advice was important to him because employees will respect and
love him and good leaders love those that follow them. He spent the first week meeting with
each employee individually ,inquiring their name ,experience and roles at the store. Then, he
started to set meeting with the store management team and give his vision and strategies for
changing the store to improve performance. After that, he started to implement an urgency code
that are used to organize the different types of service notifications by priority and urgency. The
urgency code was to both cashier and fitting room staff and everybody should their work and
help these departments whenever there are more customer. He intended to change some
department operation from the current system of planning .I argued with him because from
leadership skills, he should make change by setting a direction by developing a vision of the
future of the store along with strategies for producing the changes that are needed to achieve the
vision and improve the performance. This creates a common purpose with employee toward a
common goal. This communication needs to be face to face with staff in the store and explaining
what he is going to do, but, rather than set his vision clearly to the employees, he established a
sense of urgency and trying to change the status without examining the market . So, he failed to
establish the urgency and it was difficult to move to the stage of creating a guiding coalition
because employees commitment in helping move the effort forward and it requires senior leaders

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Malik Al-Huseini, ID#:140752 B713_1,TMA01, section 1 Dr.Mohammed Al-Haziazi, spring 2014/2015

to create a sense of urgency in the store to gain the cooperation of affected stakeholders
including employees and lower level managers (Help.isah.com,2015). Moreover, Oliveira used
his power from his position as a leader of the store and gave an instruction to the employees to
organize the work. Next, Oliveira decided to keep everyone on track and established a weekly
meeting with management team, which would mean changing some individuals’ schedules. He
thought that his proposed changes would generate good results and decided to check all
departments to see the implementation progress and as he visited each department, he was
surprised to find that nothing of the changes had been made. Consequently, he decided to work
on each departments to make sure that changes were implemented. After one week of his first
check up, he went back to each departments and found that the new policies had stopped being
implemented. Actually, I agree with him that he must keeping check each department
individually and try to align all the staff in the store. According to the leadership perspective, he
aligned with all employees who involves talking to many more individuals in the store. Although
what he has done is right from management perspective ,but the results were not achieved due to
employees responses. Achieving of his vision needs to motivate and keeping employees in the
right direction , despite major obstacles to change, by appealing to basic but often untapped
human needs, values, and emotions.

Strategies of change which describe a specific ways to achieve the goal of vision and it is a
process of continuous learning which requires performance measures to be adjusted constantly to
reflect the changes in the value system ( Feurer&Charbaghi,1995 ). Oliveira didn’t establish his
strategy of change that I believe it can help him to minimize negative of changes. Also, his
persuasion influence was not effective because this influence depends on expertise and personal
characteristics which was not gained yet by him. Something can be done differently if he had
good experience on dealing with market and made a full strategy and vision to achieve the goal
to improve the performance in the store.  

Justification of Prado's reaction when Oliveira returned from his vacation and the reasons
that makes him to continuo and not fired. Because Prado experienced the same situation when
he was a young manager and he knew that Oliveira will face such a challenge for instant, one of
the advice provided to Oliveira from one of the former store manager is to get closer to the
employees. This mean he must be friendly with all employees. So, it will be easily to align the

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Malik Al-Huseini, ID#:140752 B713_1,TMA01, section 1 Dr.Mohammed Al-Haziazi, spring 2014/2015

employees. In addition ,Prado knew that store which was given to Oliveira was most challenging
store in the country and that would most likely get worse before they got better. So, changing
any business from worse to better are not easy for a young manager without any experience but
Prado trust Oliveira and can make a change in the store because of his good capacity and
performance during his training for example, he had earned respect and the friendship by
working side by side with all employees in the previous store. Also, he was selected and awarded
one of twenty positions out of 10,000 applicants which I think he has a good capacity and will
make a change and will learn from his mistake. Moreover, Prado knew that any leader of Cloths
and Accessories should have the space to make mistakes and can learn from them. Although, he
didn’t explain the challenge that Oliveira will face in this store which I think could help Oliveira
to focus the problems that will face during his process to implement the changes.

Oliveira should make a change in the transition in the store from one that was focused on
operations to one that people centric. This can be achieved by performing any process within
an organization that requires human interaction can be defined, modeled, automated and
people centric process management allows all of an organization’s processes to be handled
(Appian, 2015). I think because he can ensure that jobs can be handled and he can motivate
employees when he focus on people centric to achieve goals. .

Prado believe that an executive will have to pass through a restructuring eventually because
Oliveira will try to learn from mistake that will face him in the store by himself. From this
perspective, I think according to Oliveira capacity and performance in his training ,any leader of
Clothes and Accessories can made mistake as Prado believe that and Prado didn’t explain the
challenges that he expected Oliveira may face. I think Prado didn’t fire Oliveira because of all
above mentioned reasons.

Conclusion

Success of any leader requires a proper planning and strategy in order to improve the
organization and referring to leadership perspective the following recommendation should be
followed by Oliveira in order to improve the performance in the store of Clothes and
Accessories. First, he should set a vision of how to improve the performance and explain his
vision to all the employees. Then, align and motivate all the employees and should examine the

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Malik Al-Huseini, ID#:140752 B713_1,TMA01, section 1 Dr.Mohammed Al-Haziazi, spring 2014/2015

market. Furthermore, he should explain the weakness of each department to the employees in
order to improve their performance. Finally, he must learn from mistakes that made during each
process of change.

References

Appian, (2015). People Centric Process Management - Appian. [online] Available at:
http://www.appian.com/about-bpm/people-centric-process-management/ [Accessed 28 Mar.
2015].

Cameron, S. (2003). Fundamentals of Senior Managment. 7th ed. [ebook] Milton Kenes,United
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[Accessed 28 Mar. 2015].

Cyert, R. (1990). Defining leadership and explicating the process. Nonprofit Management
Leadership, 1(1), pp.29-38.

Feurer, R. and Chaharbaghi, K. (1995). Performance measurement in strategic change.

Benchmarking for Quality Management & Technology, 2(2), pp.64-83.

Help.isah.com, (2015). Isah Web Help. [online] Available at:

http://help.isah.com/r45/1033/isah/index.htm#441.htm [Accessed 28 Mar. 2015].

Kotter, J. (2001). What Leaders Really Do. Harvard Business Review.

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership/ [Accessed 28 Mar.
2015].

Maxsacks.com, (2015). Lack of leadership is why companies are hurting, by Roy Chitwood, Max
Sacks International. [online] Available at:
http://www.maxsacks.com/articles/article0803.html [Accessed 28 Mar. 2015].

Mindtools.com, (2015). What is Leadership?. [online] Available at:

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_41.htm [Accessed 28 Mar. 2015].

Performance measurement in strategic change: Benchmarking for Quality Management &

Technology: Vol 2, No 2. (2015). Benchmarking for Quality Management & Technology.

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Malik Al-Huseini, ID#:140752 B713_1,TMA01, section 1 Dr.Mohammed Al-Haziazi, spring 2014/2015

[online] Available at: http://proxy.aou-

elibrary.com:9797/MuseSessionID=0910026ws/MuseProtocol=http/MuseHost=www.emer
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