Topic > H&m: challenges to adapt to new business trends

IndexAbstractIntroductionOrganizational leadershipDefine your leadership styleConvene the right peopleBuild trustEnsure clarity of directionCreate support and motivationGet feedback and monitor resultsBe alert to changesConclusionAbstractHennes & Mauritz (H&M) is a Swedish multinational clothing retail company providing fashionable clothing for men, women, teenagers and children. The H&M Group reaches fashion enthusiasts around the world and has come a long way since the first Hennes store opened in Sweden in 1947 with its first global expansion starting in the 1960s. In the 1980s Hennes & Mauritz revolutionized traditional clothing retailers. But now the company itself is being disrupted by cheaper products offered by other brands and other online stores such as Amazon and Asos. This effect led to a decrease in the company's revenue. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In this article I will analyze the challenges that H&M is facing and how the 7 rules of leadership can help the company solve these problems. Although new technologies and globalization have increased uncertainty in current times, it is important to have leaders with diverse strengths who can help improve the company's growth. The 7 rules of leadership: defining your leadership style, convening the right people, building trust, ensuring clarity, creating support and motivation, getting feedback and, finally, being attentive to changes, can help leaders create successful organizations. IntroductionH&M parent Hennes & Mauritz AB, whose fast fashion business strategy led to the bankruptcy of most fashion companies years ago. It began as a one-stop shop for women's clothing in 1947 and later expanded to become a global fashion and design group. The organization operates 4,500 physical stores in 69 markets and plans to open 390 more. The organization makes the majority of its sales in Europe, where Germany is its largest market. The company also has a strong online presence of all nine clearly defined brands: H&M, COS, Monki, Weekday and Other Stories, Cheap Monday, H&M Home, ARKET and Afound. Each brand is led by a manager and has local sales organizations. . At the central level, there are a number of joint group functions that support each brand in order to enjoy the benefits of these common areas, so that each brand and country works in a targeted manner according to central policies and guidelines. The board of directors appoints the managing director. The CEO is responsible for the day-to-day management of the H&M Group and appoints the members of the executive management team, consisting of the CEO and 10 other members. The executive management team consists of people responsible for several joint functions including finance, production, sustainability, expansion, communication, human resources, business development and logistics, as well as the person responsible for the H&M brand and the person responsible for new business initiatives such as the other brands COS, & Other Stories, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday, H&M Home and ARKET. The heads of other joint functions of the group are appointed by the CFO. Currently, the company itself is being disrupted by other competitors such as Amazon and other online stores which led to a 13% drop in stock price in 2017. Most of the challenge comes from a decline in sales at its physical stores. Brick and mortar is a term used to refer to an organization that has a physical presence or storesphysical ones where they transact with customers face-to-face rather than online or in the virtual world. Most of the decline was attributed to the migration of apparel sales to online and other brands, overtaking them in the affordable fast-fashion strategy. Organizational Leadership Leadership is the art of influence, it is how to influence various people to work together to achieve the company vision, mission and strategic objectives. For an organization to be successful, it relies primarily on leadership because leadership defines the vision and mission that an organization hopes to achieve. A leader can create a successful organization by following the 7 golden rules of leadership. In this article we will evaluate how H&M has applied these rules to its business. Define your leadership style Karl-Johan Persson is the current CEO of H&M Group, where his leadership style is the transactional leadership style. This leadership style is values-oriented, whereby you live by the values ​​and guidelines that emanate the H&M style of doing business ethically, honestly and responsibly. H&M follows a transactional leadership style whereby employees follow the guidelines and expectations set by the organization's leadership and the benefit of this is that it creates synergy within the H&M brand. It also encourages a very inclusive workplace that incorporates teamwork and growth of their employees which is part of their organizational culture, it is evident that they focus on creating an organizational culture from the inside out, the disadvantage of this is that they may not benefit from having innovative employees and may miss out on growth opportunities. One of the problems with this leadership style is that it is too rigid. Transactional leadership is defined by a rigid set of rules and regulations and gives no room to bend or break these rules for any reason. Since today's world is unpredictable and dynamic, this leadership style is not advisable. To cope with constant changes in the business world, leaders must be able to adapt and change management style to fit the situation. The situational leadership approach allows leaders with different leadership styles to adapt and adapt to different situations. Bringing in the right people An organization cannot be successful without having competent people for the right positions. To summon the right people, you must first have the right people in your organization, to have the right people you must hire the right people, and finally, to hire the right people, you must attract qualified candidates. Recruitment plays an important role in hiring the right person for the right job and provides the organization with a pool of qualified candidates to choose from. Before hiring, companies need to implement proper staffing plans and forecasts to determine how many people they will need. H&M's recruitment process begins with job vacancies posted on its website, by posting banner advertisements, the organization accepts applications at any time and in any location or by using its online portal. After the initial screening, the selected candidates are called for an interview for the final selection. The problem with this type of recruitment is that it is not supervised by an expert. Leadership must invest in a suitable HR agency that can handle all recruitment processes. Managers are likely to hire based on pressure or hire people they feel good about and have connections with. This translates into having a like-minded workforce. This stylerecruitment strategy does not encourage a diverse workforce. Building Trust The company's goal of being ethical means doing the right thing. This means respecting human rights, taking a clear stand against corruption and embracing diversity and inclusion. It also means, of course, complying with laws and regulations wherever we operate and paying taxes accordingly. The organization's leadership encourages mutual respect, integrity, transparency and honesty as the core of its corporate values. Transparency is key to building trust and credibility. Transparency means knowing who, how and where decisions are made. As such, it creates greater accountability among employees, allowing them to identify priorities, set better goals and take smarter actions, and communicate with confidence. These attributes make employees trust their leaders because they know who is responsible for what and leaders are honest and clear in their decision making. H&M is committed to following all applicable labor and employment laws wherever they operate. Leaders lead by example, teamwork is essential to H&M and is part of the culture. Leaders serve as role models and set a good example in everything they do. Ensuring Clarity of Direction Leaders must ensure clarity of direction and eliminate doubts that may prevent them from keeping their followers on the right path. How does H&M achieve this? The organization achieves this by setting clear, concise goals and creating concrete benchmarks. These goals are established using a science-based approach. A mission statement is a brief statement of an organization's purpose, identifying the focus of its operations: what type of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographic region. of operation. The mission statement shows employees where the organization is and what it wants to achieve. The organisation's vision is to drive change towards a circular and renewable fashion industry, whilst being a fair and equitable company. This vision is applied to every brand in the H&M group. Its vision statement focuses on promoting and expanding innovation, driving transparency and rewarding sustainable actions. Creating Support and Motivation Motivation is one or more reasons to act or behave in a particular way. The study showed that even competent employees can underperform without the right and adequate motivation. H&M as an organization is constantly evolving and growing rapidly, thus offering more opportunities to its employees. H&M is a flat organisation, which can give the impression that it is impossible to climb the ladder. However, this is not true as one of the main ways that H&M motivates its employees is through offering training and having them promote from within. In this way, they are using expectancy theory, which states that employees are motivated to exert a high level of effort as this will lead to development. This development is carried out through regular performance review sessions. From an employee perspective, it's one of the things they look forward to. The knowledge and ability to develop and earn any position they want is one way employees are encouraged by the management team. Additionally, employees are motivated by providing new challenges; in another department, another role or another country. H&M encourages employees to try out many different roles within their organisation. H&M recruitment ads.