COURSEWORK 2

Management and Leadership - Challenges and

Practices

Abstract
An assessment on the importance and effects of leadership styles and workplace culture to attain
the organizational goals of Digital Main Street.

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Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................2

Leadership styles to achieve organisational objectives....................................................2

The company and its diversity.......................................................................................2

The necessity of leadership style...................................................................................3

Leadership Styles by theory and methods to accomplish goals....................................4

Prevailing Leadership Styles and DMS’s adaptation........................................................5

Professionalism, Trust, Respect and support................................................................7

Ethics and Value-based Leadership..................................................................................8

Legality...........................................................................................................................8

Organizational values.....................................................................................................8

The ethical and value-based approach..........................................................................9

Impact and expectation on leadership.........................................................................10

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................10

References.......................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Leadership style may affect employee morale, decision-making speed and productivity
says Tara (2020) in her article. Leaders influence people to accomplish the company’s
goals and vision. There are many different leadership styles and each has its
advantages and drawbacks states Becker (2020).

Digital Main Street (DMS) is a non-profit organization that primarily helps main street
businesses in Toronto, Canada to attain digital transformation. DMS’s leadership style
and work culture can be stated as good following Becker’s leadership style
recommendations (Becker,2020) and the Indeed.com website’s healthy workplace
evaluation (indeed, 2021).

DMS, just like any other organization in Canada has to adapt a variety of leadership
styles to achieve its goals. A company’s culture is formed by a leader (McQuaid, 2017)
and has a great impact on and sets the standards for the performance of the employees
and overall professionalism. Great leaders of history have all been acting upon their
core values and what they want to achieve. The same value-based leadership is
positively affecting DMS to accomplish its objectives.

On top of what is summarised above, this report also analyses the ethical, legal and
stakeholder’s expectation on the company leadership and its impact.

Leadership styles to achieve organisational objectives

The company and its diversity

Hofer validates in her analysis that leadership style is affected heavily by cultural values
(Hofer, 2021). Often time, the leader and other employees do not possess the same
cultural values. This is one of the hurdles that many companies in Canada have to face
just like DMS because people can easily get lost in translation or perspective of their
thought. This could lead to confusion or a bad impression among employees when a
leader is addressing an issue.

Looking at the fact that everyone is unique and has a different character and
personality, it is obvious that one standard style of leading them will not be effective.
DMS employs a diverse workforce with people from different cultural backgrounds and
age groups. Starting from 20-year-old college-goers, all the way up to Gen X and Y.
McMahan says that leaders must understand the interests and values of each group
when it comes to generational diversity (Perspectives on Leadership, 2008).

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Leadership style is how leadership functions are exercised, and how the manager
usually complies with group members, describes Mullins (2013) in his publication. This
is accurate and can be seen across many organizations and sometimes naturally by
people with great leadership skills. People tend to change the way they speak to others
depending on factors such as their language fluency, age, knowledge about the topic
and much more. The same applies to the leaders with a slight difference, where they
have to accommodate and always be attentive about the leadership style they are
expressing on the subordinates/followers.

The necessity of leadership style

Every leadership style has its own pros and cons, as stated by Becker (2020) in his
article. This means just following one leadership style won’t be effective to manage
everything that happens when running a business and one size does not fit all. This is a
major reason why leaders should showcase different leadership characteristics at
different times.

Mullins (2013) says that managers can no longer rely solely on their role in the
hierarchical system in the workplace, it has become fairly evident. He adds that the
manager also needs to take into account the need to foster high moral standards, a
spirit of involvement and cooperation and desirability to work to achieve the best results
from subordinates (Mullins, 2013). This is a reason why leadership styles have been
taken into consideration according to Mullins (2013).

Comparing Mullins’s and Becker’s writing, there seems to be a strong connection. Both
authors say that one leadership style is not perfect for all situations. Furthermore, to
support this statement, Blanchard states the following:

“There is no best leadership style—it all depends on the situation—we have

been teaching managers all over the world to be situational leaders”
(Blanchard, Fowler and Hawkins, 2005).

Heifetz, Grashow and Linsky (2009) describe an adaptive leader as a practice of

mobilising people to address difficult and prosperous challenges. The end goal for any
leader in a company is to achieve their organizational goals and objectives. According
to rangam.com, a leader should focus on interpersonal relationships, inspire and
motivate others to complete any objectives and eventually achieve the end goal (Inc.,
2021). A great leader must be able to influence people through effective communication
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skills and relationship skills. Kostanya lists the preceding statement as one of the
principles of authentic leadership in his article (Kostanyan, 2017).

It is evident that communication skill is of paramount importance for a leader and that
skill includes an effective translation of message to people of different culture and age
group. A leader should be able to motive all of them regardless of their background.

Leadership Styles by theory and methods to accomplish goals

There are three major styles of leadership argues Lewin, a psychologist who developed
a framework in 1930 that provided a foundation for many other subsequent approaches
according to the Mindtools website in an article guide to choose right leadership
approach for the situation (Leadership Styles: Choosing the Right Approach for the
Situation, 2020).

The three major types that are mentioned are:

 Autocratic
 Democratic
 Laissez-faire

As the name suggests, autocratic leaders decide out of their sole experience without
consulting anyone although it could be useful states Mind Tools. They also add that this
style can be effective when a decision has to be made quickly and when it does not
need any input from the team members (Leadership Styles: Choosing the Right
Approach for the Situation, 2020). On the other hand, the staff might feel not important
or valuable if their input is not asked by the team leader and it is a disadvantage of this
style.

Democratic leadership style involves team members sharing their thoughts and
opinions, but the final decision is made by the leader after analysing all the inputs. Mind
Tools states that this style will result in better productivity and employee job satisfaction
(Leadership Styles: Choosing the Right Approach for the Situation, 2020).

Mind Tools describe the Laissez-faire leadership style as autonomy and allows full
freedom for employees to act on their own, create a deadline and generate ideas.
Although this brings job satisfaction to the employees, it can be ineffective if the team
members cannot manage things on their own, lose motivation or lack knowledge in
completing the job (Leadership Styles: Choosing the Right Approach for the Situation,
2020). A situation where the managers don’t have control over the employee’s work is

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also defined to be a Laissez-faire system according to Mindtools (Leadership Styles:

Choosing the Right Approach for the Situation, 2020).

Becker lists more leadership styles in his article. It includes transformational,

transactional, bureaucratic, coach-style and strategic (Becker, 2020). At Digital Main
Street, transactional leadership is often used to motivate employees to work efficiently.
Becker writes that through this leadership style, the employee receives an incentive if
they achieve the specified goal (Becker, 2020). DMS holds a contest among its
employees to push the number of deals closed from their service pipeline. This is
practiced to help as many businesses as possible in a short time.

The prime goal for DMS is to help the main street business achieve Digital
Transformation and adapt to this fast-moving internet-focused world (Frequently Asked
Questions, 2021). During the busy times of the year, the company adapts to other
leadership styles as in the example mentioned above. On an ongoing basis, the
company mostly adopts the Democratic Leadership style and each team leader follows
the same. When there is an urgent need to make a decision, the team leaders change
their style to autocratic and move forward. Depending on the goal that needs to be
achieved and the group of people that is aimed at, the appropriate leadership style is
practiced by the managers and leaders at DMS.

In a situation where the company wants a particular division to modify its service
pipeline to help the clients efficiently, the first step is to collect the ideas and opinions
from that team. An autocratic model is not advisable here since employee satisfaction is
a priority to make the shift effective and be more efficient after that a democratic or
Strategic leadership is advisable. Strategic style is where the leader accepts the
responsibility for the change or the burden of executive interest to help the employees
feel comfortable and safe during any such transition says Becker (2020). This can be
adapted to keep the employees satisfied with the change and also gain their
confidence.

Although one leadership style is great, it is not enough to manage a business and to
grow it. The effective method is to practice multiple styles in the right situation.

Prevailing Leadership Styles and DMS’s adaptation

DMS has a clear set of goals and a mission. Their objectives are:
 To help as many main street businesses as possible to attain digital
transformation
 Provide all services free of cost

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 Provide special price/discounts for clients when buying services from

partners/vendors
 Offer a vetted business vendor directory that other businesses can use for free.

These objectives above are listed on the organization’s website (Frequently Asked
Questions, 2021).

The three crucial styles of leadership according to Lewin are autocratic, democratic and
laissez-faire (Leadership Styles: Choosing the Right Approach for the Situation, 2020).
In the context of DMS, the most prevailing one out of these three is Democratic
Leadership. Managers and other leaders at the higher level of the hierarchy often follow
this style and plan things to make sure the employees are satisfied. One of the
important roles of any organization is to keep its employees satisfied because a happier
employee tends to be more productive. According to a study, happier employees were
found to be 20% more productive than unhappy ones (Preston, 2017).

Comparing the three main leadership styles, the democratic style has an upper hand
where employees will feel valued and happy but also avoiding the risks of laissez-faire
style. This style can bring out the best of a professional and experienced team says
Jones in his article (Jones, 2016). Jones classifies certain businesses and professions
that this leadership style will suit. Those are:

1. A creative group of people who work in the field of design, advertising or other
creators (Jones, 2016).
2. Consultants whose primary job is to explore and find solutions and often time
through open discussion (Jones, 2016).
3. Most service-oriented businesses allow for change according to customer’s
needs and demands (Jones, 2016).
4. The education sector, an industry where everything is well planned, researched
and discussed before execution of tasks (Jones, 2016).

DMS is a service-based company that employs professionals such as website

designers, digital marketers and advertisers and offers free consultation/evaluation of
their client’s business (Programs for Ontario Businesses, 2021). This business falls
under 3 out of 4 industries Jones listed as a good fit for the Democratic style of
leadership. DMS using following this leadership style in most cases is a good idea.

There are many instances where the company’s leaders adopt other prevailing
leadership styles, sometimes a mix of two styles throughout its day-to-day operations.
For example, the base-level employees working as an Ecommerce coordinator are

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assigned a bunch of clients to work with. These coordinators set their deadlines, change
their working hours and modify their working style depending on the clients they work
with and provide the best experience possible. This is all done remotely and hundreds
of these coordinators work with minimum supervision. The team manager has no
control over this part and a Laissez-faire system is formed, but every team conducts a
meeting each day to help out other teammates with questions and doubts along with the
team manager. A democratic leadership then takes place during that part.

Professionalism, Trust, Respect and support

Since all these employees work from home, there is a strong trust built between the
company and its employees. Derrick says that it is more likely for an employee to be
committed to reaching their peak potential, when an environment of trust is created in
the workplace (Derrick, 2019).

DMS encourages and practices a healthy work culture as per the Indeed website’s
criteria. The criteria are accountability, equity, expression, recognition and
communication (What Is Work Culture?, 2021).

Each employee is accountable for their work at DMS and this element in the work
culture makes it not easy for the remote workers to do anything faulty. Apart from this,
the workers are recognized for their contribution and rewarded when expectations are
broken. Combined with the other elements such as the freedom to express their
personality, and communicate the ideas and treating employees of all ranks with the
same dignity and respect makes the organization a healthy workplace. This kind of work
culture is welcomed by everyone and the workers at DMS are happy about it. Their
happiness reflects in the way they treat business clients.

Leaders should create a healthy work environment by following the suggestions

provided by the Indeed website to nurture the importance of teamwork and how they
can work towards one single goal. According to Corporate Finance Institute, a
supportive leader is the one who offers continuous mentorship to his/her subordinates
while getting the task completed (Supportive Leadership - Learn How to Be a
Supportive Leader, n.d.). This is one method to exercise support to the employees and
by doing this, the leader sets an example for others in the organization. The daily team
meetings at DMS by the leader are a great example of supportive leadership. The
manager in the meeting encourages and lends their hand when a teammate needs
assistance. By practicing this, supportive culture with mutual trust, respect and support
is established at DMS.

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Creating a streamlined process where new hires are taught about the organizations
culture during their training or orientation is a good idea to promote the values and
make the employees adapt to the environment faster. DMS tries to build a similar
orientation method to pass on its corporate cultural values. New hires are asked to
complete online training videos where one of the leaders talks about the importance of
the role, why and how to help the clients. While adapting to the company’s culture, the
employees will also learn professionalism from their managers and leaders.

Since equity among employees is a crucial factor at DMS, leaders treat their followers
respectfully and always lend their hand when someone needs help. This behaviour is
passed on and when an employee is helping a client, they try to go beyond the service
offered to see how they can help. There are no policies laid out when dealing with a
client, but employees never say no to the request before they input their efforts. Leaders
motivate but on top of that, they influence others to follow their approach.

These prevailing leadership styles each has its advantages and disadvantage. It is the
leader’s talent to use one over the other and make the best out of all. In the case of
DMS, the leaders in the company wisely use a mix of all styles to accomplish their
goals.

Ethics and Value-based Leadership

Legality

Digital Main Street is a non-profit directly supported by the City of Toronto and a group
of corporate sponsors such as Google, Microsoft, Shopify and MasterCard (Frequently
Asked Questions, 2021). This company was formed by another organization called the
Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (Frequently Asked Questions,
2021). TABIA is also a non-profit umbrella lobbying organization representing the city of
Toronto’s 82 other Business Improvement Areas (TABIA - Toronto Association of
Business Improvement Areas, n.d.).

DMS has to report all the expenditures and gains (if any) to the government sponsors of
the money that is provided for operation. Every employee is asked to fill in a timesheet
every day and they must mention every task that they complete or worked on that
particular day. Employees are advised that these details are collected for showing the
proof of work in case it is needed and to analyse the performance of the service offered.
In general, the communication between the company’s employees and the general
public is open and any information regarding the services offered is fully disclosed.

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Organizational values

A firm’s culture is shaped by the leader of the organization, and value-based leaders are
the ones who lead the most successful companies, says McQuaid (McQuaid, 2017). In
the case of DMS, there is a common interest between the parent organization and the
government who share the same values which are to help main street businesses in
Toronto.

Leaders driven by their core values inspire their followers' fidelity and commitment
because they help them find meaning and purpose in what they do, and they bring the
best out of the people who work with them, says Clarke in his article (Clarke, 2018).
Femo expresses that the best leader is someone whose leadership is rooted deep into
who they are and what matters the most to them (Femo, 2011). This is a thoughtful
statement by these authors because often we see world leaders who inspired millions of
people were all driven by their values and moral. Comparing this statement to DMS, the
company does have a goal to achieve which is helping small-medium businesses go
online. It can be proved that the company is driven by that core value. In the year 2020,
the organization came up with an action plan and introduced its new program called
ShopHERE which was seen as a support to businesses affected by the pandemic
(Freeman, 2020). This program is aimed to help as many businesses as possible in the
province of Ontario to start an online sales channel and expand their presence to a
wider audience. On top of this, it provided job opportunities for as many as 1400 recent
graduates and students (Ontario and Canada Helping Small Businesses Go Digital,
2021).

Every business in the province of Ontario should pay at least the minimum wage to its
employees. The current minimum wage in Ontario is $14.25 (Minimum wage, 2021).
DMS continues to pay well above the rate to all the employees it hired for this
ShopHERE program. The company chooses to pay its employees rather than bringing
in volunteers. This is a good choice because it makes sure the people who were hired
are committed to their job.

The ethical and value-based approach

Every employee hired for this program is trained on the basics and had access to a lot
of training videos. During those pieces of training, the leaders emphasized that their job
is more of customer service than just building websites using software platforms like
Shopify and Square. This is evident that DMS is focused on delivering its values and the
leaders are also driven by the same. Further, this is passed on to the employees who
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directly assist the clients. The employees are also expected to work ethically and
always be aware of the core purpose of their work. According to Daskal, value-based
leadership means communicating the organizational values that will guide the members
on the ways to behave to fulfil the company’s mission (Daskal, 2016). The above
statement can be supported with the example stated earlier. The leaders advise their
new hires to behave as customer service people and provide the best help possible
rather than acting as a website building expert.

Apart from this, the people working at DMS hold high ethical standards and values
rights and dignity for others in the organization. The same characteristics are used to
describe Ethical Leadership by Indeed’s career guide (Complete Guide to Ethical
Leadership, 2021). The same article provides a list of principles of ethical leadership.
They are honesty, justice, respect, community and integrity (Complete Guide to Ethical
Leadership, 2021). These qualities can be matched with the organization as a whole
since no single leader carries the responsibilities, but the entire team. All these 5 factors
come into play when operating and dealing with the clients who need the service.
According to Indeed.com, the overall health of the organization can be immensely
affected by ethical leadership. This is the reason the leaders should foster a
collaborative and mutual respect environment that enables individuals to grow and
contribute to the overall goals of the organisation states Indeed.com (Complete Guide to
Ethical Leadership, 2021).

Impact and expectation on leadership

Involvement, keeping commitments, consistency, respect, and standing up are the

qualities that general teams expect their leaders to possess according to Tredgold
(Tredgold, 2016).

Clients, employees, parent organisation, the provincial government are the major
stakeholders of Digital Main Street and the topmost expectation they have on the
leadership should be professionalism. This is because a professional leader can also be
considered honest and responsible. A company that is honest to its stakeholders and
responsible for its actions and commitments is most welcomed by all.

To summarise, the shared values of the founders and sponsors are passed on to the
managing leaders of the organization and they are expected to drive the company
forward with the motive to help as many businesses as possible. The leaders work in
accordance with that and influence the employees to gain momentum to reach a higher
level of success.

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Conclusion
As a non-profit organization with the main intention to help businesses in Toronto, DMS
secures its values and purpose of existence by a great leadership strategy and work
cultural influence. Although the organization is performing well and employees are
satisfied with their leaders, there is still room for improvement when it comes to
employee’s happiness. The company’s ability to host social events is limited by the
restrictions due to the pandemic, but it tries to organize online socializing techniques.
Halloween games, group Yoga practice and Christmas-based games were hosted
online to keep help the employees socialize with some of their co-workers and make
them feel part of the team. There could be some events or online gaming sessions
organised more frequently to overcome the inability of the people to meet in person.

Apart from this suggestion, DMS is prevailing to be one of the best companies to work
for with strong values towards helping small-medium businesses.

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