University of the Philippines Diliman- Extension Program in Pampanga

Leading of

(A research paper in partial fulfilment for

the requirements in Introduction to Management)

Prepared by: Prepared for:

Alfonso, Brey Ms. Maria Eunice G. Felix, M.M
Batongbacal, Aljonh Professor
De Leon, Marja Business Management 101
Gingco, Allysa Mae
Iral, Jannica
Makilan, Hannah
Quiambao, Isha
Retuya, Erica

May 15, 2015

Significance of the Research

For a company to thrive, it requires efficient and effective leaders to direct the entire
organization into a goal. Though all leaders are not managers, it is crucial that all managers are
leaders. According to Robbins and Coulter (2012), this notion is ideal because leading is the one
of the four management functions. Leaders are the people who set things in motion in an
organization. Eventually, they become a vital part of an organization because the organization
takes the shape of their leaders. Robbins and Coulter (2012) accounted a leader as someone who
can influence others and has managerial authority, with it is leadership—the focal point of this
research—which is what managers do. Leading is the process of influencing a group in order to
achieve goals. The content of this research analyzes the leadership style of Charmaine Joy’s
Boutique regarding the early leadership theories, the contemporary views, and certain leadership
issues faced by the company. This research delves deeper into the application of the lessons from
the business management course which influences the growth and progress of the company.

Company Profile

Charmaine Joy’s Boutique is a clothing store that is an imported overruns outlet. It has
established its 3rd branch in April 1, 2015. The first branch was built in Maligaya 68, San
Fernando, Pampanga in year 2008 following its second branch in Guagua, Pampanga in 2010. The
first branch aimed to cater the needs of the people in Guagua since the town is dear to the owner’s
heart. It is where she spent her 10 years of academic achievement. The first branch started with
three salesladies while the second branch stood with four salesladies. The third branch, which
focused primarily on lingerie, served with four salespeople including the cashier. Each branch
struggles with competition among others but managed to own a fair share of success. The business
owner’s experience of seven years in the business has kept the business of track of survival.
Research Methodology

Brief Interview

Mrs. Joy Posis, 42 year-old businesswoman, is a self-employed manager of Charmaine

Joy’s Boutique. She has been versed in managing a business since 2008, marking her 7 years of
experience in entrepreneurship. As both owner and manager, Mrs. Posis keeps a tight schedule
overseeing her stores and maintaining them. Still, she agreed to answer questions with a brief
discussion with one member of our group before she went on a vacation in Japan.

Questionnaire

Before Mrs. Posis’s flight, she agreed to answer a questionnaire for follow-up questions.
In turn she answered the questionnaire online and sent it to the group with her signature in it via
her colleague who was our main contact with her.

Leadership According to the Early Leadership Theories

Choosing among the proposed early leadership theories—trait theories, behavioral

theories—based on Robbins and Coulter (2012), Mrs. Posis leaned toward the belief that “leaders
are born not made”—the trait theory. Mrs. Posis admitted that she did not finish her college course,
yet she is successful in managing her own business. According to her, this is because of the innate
abilities that she naturally possesses. In her demeanor and responses, it becomes evident that Mrs.
Posis possesses the seven traits introduced by Robbins and Coulter (2012). Initially, she has a drive
to turn and expand her business into something vast. She exhibits a high effort level by being
present in her branches daily to ensure the progress of her employees. She becomes tirelessly
persistent in her involvement in the company. In fact, she dislikes being idle. Like every
businessman, she values profit. In accordance to the first trait, she also possesses the desire to lead.
As hard as it is being an owner, Mrs. Posis is still able to be the manager of her own stores.
According to her, she values the quality of honesty and integrity within the business. She strives
to instill these qualities in her employees by being consistent with her word and actions among her
staff. Mrs. Posis holds self-confidence that helps her to lead three branches. In addition to this, she
is a strategic businesswoman. Despite not finishing her education, she has the ability to be creative
with her business. At a young age, Mrs. Posis was involved in small business. Armed with this
experience, she navigated through the business world with ease. Last, but not the least, she is
assertive in making decisions. Mrs. Posis is an extrovert who knows her way with people. She is
proud of her achievements and accomplishments in life. In addition to this, Mrs. Posis is also
hardworking, patient, and fair.

Democratic Style of Leadership

According to University of Iowa Studies, proposed by Kurt Lewin, the behavioral

dimensions of leading involves three styles: democratic, autocratic, and laissez faire. The analysis
of Mrs. Posis’s leading style through her responses in the survey shows that she, generally, uses
democratic style, which proved to be effective. As an owner of three stores, she delegates authority
among her employees. She reasoned out that in order for her employees to trust her and work
independently, she encourages participation. As an owner, she treats workers and employees as
healthy people who lend helping hands, maintain responsibility, and believe that customers
deserve the best because they essentially drive the whole business.

High-high Leader

In certain situations in Charmaine Joy’s Boutique, Mrs. Posis embodies a high-high

leader—high in consideration and high in initiating structure. According to her, she tries to achieve
a high group task performance and satisfaction. She is upfront in the distribution of tasks and the
role of every employees in her store. At the same time, she instills consideration into her work and
tries to understand her co-workers circumstances when needed. In spite of this, there are times
when being too considerate becomes a liability. Sometimes this becomes grounds for employees
to exploit the trust bestowed on them. This proves that situational factors influences leadership
effectiveness.

Employee and Production Orientation

Charmaine Joy’s Boutique is considered to be employee-oriented and production-oriented.

According to Mrs. Posis, she tries to manage the balance between the two orientations presented
in University of Michigan Studies. She claimed to value both employees and production at the
same time.

However, it was hard to prioritize both at the same time. Too much priority in production
risks employee orientation. When she was asked what she prioritizes, she chose to be employee-
oriented. She said, “I am nothing without my employees.” She is close with her employees, and
she nurtures her relationship with them dearly. She believes that the future of her company also
lies with her workers because they are part of the company as she is.

Leadership According to the Managerial Grid

As presented by Robbins and Coulter (2012), Mrs. Posis is fitted in team management in
the Managerial Grid. The managerial grid consists of concern for people and concern for
production. In the case of Charmaine Joy’s Boutique, commitment and dedication from the
employees are necessary for the three branches to be established and stabilized. Interdependence
through a common stake should be instigated inside the company to establish trust and respect
with each other.

Mrs. Posis has this kind of mindset. For her, it is imperative to connect with her people and
inspire them to work as a team in order for the business to thrive. At the same time, she also wants
the production to thrive. Without the improvement of production, there would not be enough profit.

Acceptance

The concept of acceptance is not foreign in the business world. To become a leader,
someone has to follow. Following means accepting and trusting someone to lead. According to
Robbins and Coulter (2012), the effectiveness of a leader also lies whether followers accept or
reject a leader.

In Charmaine Joy’s Boutique, camaraderie among the employees is present and evident
among them. They help each other out. Mrs. Posis also makes sure to treat her employees with
kindness. They treat each other like a family. Because of Mrs. Posis’s attitude and personality, she
is accepted by her workers. In turn they try to give back the kindness by dedicating themselves to
their work.

Readiness

In line with acceptance is readiness. Robbins and Coulter (2012) defined it as the extent to
which followers have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task. Because of the
dedication that the employees pour into their work, they are always ready to accomplish a goal
given by Mrs. Posis. This is also part of the reason Charmaine Joy’s Boutique became as successful
as it is now. Her role as a leader proved to be conducive. She maintains good work environment
among people and focus on timing and quality of production and service. Because of this, her
employees are ready to follow her command.

However, readiness was not an immediate response by the workers. According to Mrs.
Posis it was a process she cultivated in her workers. At first, the employees were uncertain of the
nature of the job. Mrs. Posis had to use the telling style presented by Hersey and Blanchard’s
Situational Leadership. She had to define their designation in order for them to understand their
work properly. When her employees settled on the job, she instilled the selling style to participating
and finally, the delegating style. At this point, her employees were ready to accomplish any task
assigned for them and even exceed the expectations. They became able and willing.

Decision-making

People make decisions all the time, even doing nothing is an example of a decision. In the
same way, managers make decisions for the improvement of the company. Being considered as
leaders, they must always consider their decisions carefully because they carry the weight of the
company on their shoulders. The growth of the company partly relies on the decisions they make.
Careless choices would only put a company at risk. According to Mrs. Posis, if it is a matter that
she can solve individually, she chooses to decide alone. If it is a decision that has a greater impact
on the company, she presents the problem to the group and ask for their suggestions then makes a
decision. More often she chooses to analyze the problem herself before presenting it to the group.

Commitment

Commitment is a factor that can prevent high rate of turnover within the employees. It
should be present in a leader. Mrs. Posis has dedicated her life in this business. It has been her
dream to open up clothing stores. This is one of the main reasons that she does not take managing
lightly. She places great importance in her business. In turn her employees are inspired to commit
to their work, to achieve their goals with passion, and to love what they do. A committed workforce
builds a bond of trust and respect with those employees creating a productive environment. Mrs.
Posis knows that the commitment that her employees attained is hard-earned. Commitment is
something personal. Because of this, she values them. The main component of building a fortified
commitment is an open communication with her employees.
Visionary Leadership

Visionary Leadership is a category found in contemporary views in leadership researched

by Robbins and Coulter (2012). Mrs. Posis is considered to be a visionary leader. A visionary
leader is one who creates and articulates a realistic, credible, and attractive vision of the future that
improves upon the present situation. As a visionary leader, she motivates her employers through
her visions in the future. She started with a small business and now she managed to expand her
stores in different places. This became possible through her visions which became her goals. Her
goals became the goal of her workers as well.

Team Leader Job

In a business, your employees become your team. Being a leader of a team requires the
virtue of patience and respect among each other in order to properly share and exchange ideas. A
leader must recognize which situations require her to give up authority and ones that require her
to intervene. As a manager, it should be a given that Mrs. Posis is a team leader. She is the one
who manages the team’s external boundary and facilitating the process of the team.

Coaching

Mrs. Posis is considered the coach of Charmaine Joy’s Boutique three branches. As a
coach, she brings out the ability of her workers in entrepreneurship. She identifies the problem of
her company and make plans to resolve issues. Mrs. Posis consults with her workers and guides
them to be dedicated in their work. She sets the goal for the company.

Facilitating

As a facilitator, Mrs. Posis helps her workers to understand their common objectives. She
assists them in fulfilling and accomplishing their task. In line with this, she oversees things and
evaluates what should be done.

Handling Disciplinary Problems

In Charmaine Joy’s Boutique, she holds the power. Being both the owner and manager,
she handles the disciplinary problems. According to Mrs. Posis, she always encounters one or two
unsuitable workers—dispassionate and lazy workers. In cases like this, she immediately notifies
the particular workers and talks to them. She will establish an ultimatum—to improve or be fired.
If a worker will choose not to listen, she will immediately fire them. Mrs. Posis wants her team to
be competent. One irresponsible employee disrupts the concept of a team, which is why she
immediately oversees this kind of situation.

Reviewing Team and Individual Performance

It is imperative to keep a track on employees. Posis measures her productivity through the
performance of her employees. It becomes clear that in order to measure the performance of her
employees, she needs to have a file of statistics regarding the progress of her company, as well as
her employees.

Communication

It has been said that communication is a vital part of life. Especially in line of business,
communication should be always specific and clear. This crucial in eliminating misunderstandings
inside the company, specifically the importance of a company’s mission and vision. Mrs. Posis
assured that she always keeps in contact with her employees. She is not satisfied without being
present in her store every day. Through communication, she is able to resolve issues easily with
her employees.

Credibility

Mrs. Posis has made herself a credible businesswoman for seven years. The result of her
hard work manifests in her success in managing three stores. We asked about the factors that
contributed to the establishment of her credibility. Mrs. Posis that said that her honesty in
everything paved the way for people to be more open and trusting to her. Through her competence,
she was able to inspire her workers to be competitive and dedicated.

Trust

In order for leaders to guide their followers, the followers must also trust them in turn. If
not, there would be hesitation in the accomplishment of their goals, which would not benefit the
company. Mrs. Posis accounted how trust was difficult for her. Not only did she find it hard to
trust her employees, she also had a problem making them trust her. She, then, discussed how she
overcame this problem. Trust is a two way street, both parties should be involved. If not, there
would not be cooperation involved. Mrs. Posis managed to earn trust by being consistent in her
work and being open to her employees. As hard as it was, she made it a rule to always speak out
her opinions in order to resolve issues that might be encountered in the future. Slowly her
employees started to trust her through her honesty, competence and integrity.

Leadership Challenges

Internal

In leadership, encountering different problems is inevitable. A leader can never be certain

of when and what problems will come, so he or she should always be prepared for resolving and
correcting them. In Mrs. Posis’s case, there are instances in which she lacks patience when faced
with too many problems, sometimes leading to rash decisions, which at some point may cause
even greater risks for the whole company. Similarly, Mrs. Posis also encounters being overly
exhausted in carrying out her role as the manager. Being overwhelmed by too much workload,
problems, and stress, she sometimes reaches the point wherein she is too tired to handle and
manage the company.

External

Mrs. Posis accounted that the most common challenge she encountered is competition with
commercial stores upon opening her store. Sometimes people tend to choose well-known stores.
Nevertheless, through her connections, the problem of lack of recognition is eliminated. She also
created promotions that would attract the local people which proved to be effective as her business
is continuously expanding.

Mrs. Posis’s only pressing fears is the uncertainty of disasters, especially she is the sole
manager of three branches and the rest of her staff are non-managerial employees. If a natural
disaster would strike, it would be a challenge to manage three stores alone.

Analysis

The Charmaine Joy’s Boutique will be analyzed according to its strengths, weakness,
opportunities, and threats. This aims to provide a clear ideology of how the business denote
correspondence with its internal and external environment.
Based on the analysis of the internal environment of the boutique, there are three possible
strengths that it possess. First is the organization provides good customer service. Next is the
management uses referent power in handling her employees. Lastly, the management practices
high task - high relationship leadership. After evaluating the strengths, we look at the possible
weaknesses that affects the management and the organization itself. There are also three: the
manager feels impatience at some times, personal life mixes with professional life, and the owner
is the only manager; her staff only includes non-managerial employees.
Analyzing the external environment leads in determining opportunities and threats of the
boutique. The first opportunity that we have observed is the customers will continue to patronize
her goods, and may help in promoting her business. Next is referent power helps in running the
business because she can get her desirable resources, and her employees can follow her as a good
role model. Lastly, this practice of leadership maximizes their selling potential, which can help in
increasing their sales, but there threats that should be avoided, like impatience, because they may
cause emotions that can get in the way of logical decision making. This may lead to
unprofessionalism, though the manager can cope up with her personal life and professional career
by practicing time management, and when multiple problems arise, the manager might have
difficulty in addressing to the problems respectively.
Conclusions and Recommendations

In summary, Charmaine Joy’s Boutique is thriving because of the leadership of Mrs. Joy
Posis. As the owner and the manager, she fittingly embodies the name of her company. She also
possesses the necessary qualities a leader should have—as presented by the course and discussed
above. Furthermore, the leadership Mrs. Posis have been executing is commendable. This
accreditation is validated by the fact that Mrs. Posis adequately leads her employees and effectively
handles difficult situations. A business needs a leader to establish its goals and guide the entire
workforce; indisputably, Mrs. Polis has fulfilled the said task.

Her influence directly affects the performance of the company making her a key element
to the organization’s thriving state. And despite the challenges, it is undeniable that leading could
lead to coup. However, challenges should be addressed not only when it is currently happening
but when it is far about to. Prevention of the said challenges, are recommended. It was stated that
impatience, fatigue, and unexpected calamity are the challenges that she encounters as a leader.
Hence, it is advisable for Mrs. Posis to have a person assist her or if preferred, co-lead. No one can
remove the fact that all leaders are humans, consequently, there would be times where they would
yield to impatience & physical and mental human limits, and pressure preparing & recovering
from calamities, thus having someone to reflect with, to watch as a constructive critique, to co-
head unstructured programs, and to share the weight of leading, may help Mrs. Posis by lightening
the work load and thus may reduce the risk of making illogical decisions that may negatively affect
the company.
References:

Robbins, S. P. & Coulter, M. (2012). Introduction to Management 11th Edition. Pearson Education,
Inc: Jurong, Singapore.

Mrs. Joy Posis, Owner and Manager of Charmaine Joy’s Boutique

 Documentation

Photos
 University of the Philippines Diliman- Extension Program in Pampanga

Paper: Leading of Charmaine Joy’s Boutique

QUESTIONNAIRE

Name: Joy Posis_________ Age: 42 years old

Business: Charmaine Joy’s Boutique Position: Owner and Manager
Questions

1. How would you describe yourself as an owner? I am on owner who treats workers and

employees as healthy people who lend us helping hands, who maintains responsibility,

and who believes that customers deserve the best because they primarily drive the whole

business. What are your traits as a leader? Hardworking, generally patient, and fair.

2. How do you lead your employees (in an autocratic, democratic or laissez faire style)?

Democratic style.

3. As a leader, do you emphasize personal relationships with your employees (employee

oriented) or task management (production oriented)? A balance between task orientation

and employee orientation.

4. Do you put more importance on your concern for production or concern for people?

Balanced. Discipline and human consideration.

5. How do you interact with your employees? Do they accept you and ready to follow your

orders? Yes.

6. Do you make your decisions alone or do you consider others’ opinions? Consider others’

opinion

7. Would you say you are productive as a leader? Why? Yes, because I maintain good work

environment among people and focus on timing and quality of production and service.
8. How do you measure your effectiveness and productivity? By the kind of dedication the

employees give to their work, and by the quality of product and service I get from their

compliance.

9. How do you manage your employees? What kind of power do you use (coercive, reward,

expert, and referent)? Referent power management.

10. How much trust do your employees place on you? As much as I want to be trusted.

11. Do you value ethics in morality in your work? Yes.

12. Do you empower your employees? Yes, only in ways consistent with business’ objectives

and values.

13. What issues do you face as a leader? How do you solve them? When there is imbalance

in human consideration and task orientation, I tend to overlook mistakes due to too much

trust. I maintain balance between employee and task orientation.

_________________________

Signature over Printed Name