Why Australian Business Needs Another Gail Kelly’ Case Study

Issue Identification

Why Australian Business needs another Gail Kelly’ Case Study.

Women empowerment is not always happening in the business world even in the 21^st century. Gail Kelly, one of the most famous female bosses in Australia, retired from her position of CEO of Westpac and this threw a light on the big issue of gender inequality at the top positions of the companies in Australia. In the country, it is observed that after Kelly’s departure, there are only six female CEOs in more than 200 big companies (Fox, 2014). Through this report, the issue of gender discrimination in the business sector of Australia will be highlighted to find out the extent of impact. The report will contain introduction, issue identification, critical analysis, recommendations and concluding remarks. The models of leadership that is going to be critically analyzed in the report are transactional and transformational leadership.

In the given case study, the issue of gender discrimination in the Australian business sector is highlighted. The departure of Gail Kelly has thrown an in-sight about this major issue in Australia. It is found that, majority of the women in Australia climb the ladder of growth by tolerating the discriminating issues in the male dominated work culture (Piterman, 2014). The management function that can be linked with this case study is the Staffing function. Staffing is one of the major functions of the management. This function deals with the human resource planning, recruitment, training and development, performance appraisal, promotions and transfers of the manpower (Williams, Mavin, Stead & Elliott, 2016). Henri Fayol’s Theory of Management can be applied in this case. Under the 14 principles of this theory, the Equity Principle focuses on fairness of the managers to the staff during all times along with maintaining disciple coupled with kindness (Fayol, 2016). In this case, through the application of the Equity principle, the managers in Australia can be fair with the promotions of the female employees. For any organization in the business, like, Westpac in the case study, gender discrimination affects the work culture by demotivating the female employees. Even if many women employees are at par or more qualified and efficient than the male employees, due to discriminatory actions, they cannot make progress in the organization (Barak, 2016). Hence, it is important to make further research work on this issue to solve the gender discrimination in the workplace of Australia. There are two other similar cases in the workplace of Australia, Alison Watkins heading the Coca-Cola Amatil and Kerrie Mather heading the Sydney Airport Corporation (Fox, 2014). Very few corporations in Australia have female bosses and when they leave, the position is again captured by a male employee.

Gender inequality is a big issue in the work culture of Australia. It is found that, in more than 200 big companies, there are only six female CEOs after Gail Kelly retires from her position the CEO of Westpac. It is a rare scenario in Australia where a female employee is heading the corporation (Margolis & Ziegert, 2016). Kelly as set an example of the women empowerment in the business sector by upholding the position and value of Westpac, especially during the global financial crisis. However, this throws a light on the problem of gender discrimination in the business sector of Australia.

Critical Analysis

The main drivers of motivation in any organization are the leaders who encourage the people to strive towards the collective goal of the company. Some of the basic function of a leader: upholding and bringing about a positive organizational culture, providing inspiration among the workers and the staff, offering support and guidance. Along with this a leader is also responsible in developing and initiating actions for the organization with the help of policies and decisions. Behaving responsibly is also the role of a leader (Azanza, Moriano & Molero, 2013).

 According to Antonakis & House (2014), there is a number of leadership styles, but the model that we are going to discuss are the transactional and transformational leadership. The style of leadership that has been observed in Gail Kelly is transformational and transactional in nature. She is a far-sighted woman who has set high benchmarks for the following leaders of Westpac. One of her many abilities that she used in her leadership as well are being positive in every aspect of life. 

The concept of leadership was introduced by James McGregor Burns in his 1978 book called “Leadership”. In transformational leadership style the leaders encourage and invite changes in the process of operation to keep up with the dynamics of the business environment. The changes that are brought about in the circumstances are such that they help in improving the productivity, solving the issues and internal conflict as well as maintaining a fair work environment in the organization (Azanza, Moriano & Molero, 2013). Transformational leaders recognize the importance of change in the company because evolution with time is the only way to move ahead.  Two most important factors that are associated with transformational leadership are motivation and morality. Gail Kelly is known to have brought about a number of changes in the organization and she has surely motivated and inspired a lot of women not only in Australia but around the world to achieve the dream without giving up. She is a person who believed in capabilities of a human being and not their gender. She said that it is important to ensure that with a motivated employee there must be an equally motivated leader so that the energy can be channelized in productivity and achievement (Dinh et al., 2014).  

On the other hand a transactional leader is a person who is focused on the managerial aspect of the business operation by planning, strategizing, organizing as this person has respect for values and principles as well as structure (Azanza, Moriano & Molero, 2013). This kind of leadership is perfect for a self motivated group of people who understand the gain of their production and the relation in between the leader and the subordinates are transactional in nature. This poses a direct contrast with the theory that has been discussed previously where inspiration and motivation is an integral part of the role the leader has to play (Dinh et al., 2014).  

The leadership of Gail Kelly is a combination of the two above concept. The style has a good balance of both the good aspect of transactional and transformational leader (Chen & Chen, 2013). In case of the gender discrimination issue that has been identified it is important to have a leader like Gail Kelly to set benchmarks, she has over the years ensured that there is a fair chance for all the employees in the organization.

Recommendations

The other theories of leadership include the situational theories, which focus on the visionary and moral leadership styles. Situational leadership style is that, in which the leader of a company adjusts his capability of fitting into the development of the followers (M. Taylor, J. Cornelius & Colvin, 2014). Those theories are not used in this case because Kelly displayed the features of transformational and transactional style in her leadership by inspiring not only the employees but also the women of Australia to aspire for high dreams and also motivated the enthusiastic employees to perform better for the organization’s as well as their own gain. But Kelly did not show any evidence of adjusting her capabilities for fitting into the development of the teams. She rather set the rules on her own.

A study on the other organizations, for example, ANZ Australia, shows that they have achieved a great position in the Australian market by applying situational leadership. In this organization, the leaders have adopted the visionary model of the situational leadership and in many aspects they have performed better than Westpac. They take up a 3-day Business Leadership Program that helps in the development and improvement of the leadership behavior and in the business outcomes (Haygroup.com, 2016).

This process of ANZ is focused on improving the skills of the potential leaders in the organizations. Hence, they take the visionary and moral approach to identify the potential leaders within the organization, because they believe that the people who are already working in ANZ will have a better understanding of the system and they can take necessary steps to improve the organizational performance. They can mould themselves as per the need of the organization. This is a different approach than the transformational leadership style and ANZ has performed better by applying the situational leadership, where individuals come with great personal understanding and use some practical tools to lead.

Similarly, another major bank, NAB, has applied this situational leadership style as the leaders have taken charge when the situation demanded. Rather than transactional leadership, as followed by Kelly in Westpac, the CEO and other leaders of NAB focused mainly on the market demand and condition and changed strategies accordingly. They wanted to help the customers by applying fair charges and fair policies, which is a reflection of morality in the situational leadership theory. Thus, they have adopted the policy of changing their strategies according to the needs of the situation rather than focusing only on the organizational gains.

Thus, it can be recommended for Westpac that the new CEO can adopt the situational leadership styles along with transformational and transactional leadership to make more improvements in the organizational performances. Westpac also needs to change their way of leading when situation demands by changing the style of leadership. Through morality, it can eliminate the problem of gender inequality in the organization, which will reduce the biasness of bringing more female power at the higher positions.        

Conclusion

From the above case study, it can be seen that, the Australian business sector has promoted the issue of gender discrimination or inequality for a long time. It is a severe management issue in the Australian organizations. From the above discussion it can be said that, the issue of gender discrimination can be addressed by the application of transformational and transactional leadership styles. Firstly, the leaders of the organizations can motivate the employees by setting examples of upliftment in the personal and professional life. The issue of gender discrimination needs to be corrected by changing the thought process of people and that can happen by inspiring people through transformational leadership. Secondly, the new CEO of Westpac can set examples in eliminating the problem of gender disparity in the Australian business sector by applying the transactional leadership styles. He can introduce some rewards and recognition that would promote the female workforce and also helps in bringing workforce parity in the organization. Thus, by applying the transformational and transactional leadership, the organizations can encourage the women empowerment in the work place and this would contribute in the growth of the organization as seen in case of Westpac during the reign of Gail Kelly.

References

Antonakis, J., & House, R. J. (2014). Instrumental leadership: Measurement and extension of transformational–transactional leadership theory. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(4), 746-771. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.04.005

Azanza, G., Moriano, J. A., & Molero, F. (2013). Authentic leadership and organizational culture as drivers of employees’ job satisfaction. Revista de Psicología del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones, 29(2), 45-50. DOI: org/10.5093/tr2013a7

Barak, M. E. M. (2016). Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications.

Chen, J., & Chen, I. (2013). Don’t worry, I’m with you: Can visionary leadership release neurotic employees for more perceived innovative interactions? Innovation, 15(2), 215-223. DOI:10.5172/impp.2013.15.2.215

Dinh, J. E., Lord, R. G., Gardner, W. L., Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., & Hu, J. (2014). Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 36-62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.005

Fayol, H. (2016). General and industrial management. Ravenio Books.

Fox, C. (2014). Where are the women to replace Gail Kelly?. [online] ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-13/fox-where-are-the-female-leaders-to-replace-gail-kelly/5888912 [Accessed 1 Jan. 2018].

Haygroup.com. (2016). Case study: ANZ (leadership). Haygroup.com. Retrieved 8 January 2018, from https://www.haygroup.com/au/downloads/details.aspx?id=16267

Taylor, C., J. Cornelius, C., & Colvin, K. (2014). Visionary leadership and its relationship to organizational effectiveness.Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 35(6), 566-583. DOI:10.1108/LODJ-10-2012-0130

Margolis, J. A., & Ziegert, J. C. (2016). Vertical flow of collectivistic leadership: An examination of the cascade of visionary leadership across levels. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(2), 334-348. DOI:10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.01.005

Piterman, H. (2014). Why Australian business needs another Gail Kelly. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/why-australian-business-needs-another-gail-kelly-34188 [Accessed 1 Jan. 2018].

smh.com (2014). Gail Kelly’s successor at Westpac is a man: has anything changed?. [online] The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/gail-kellys-successor-at-westpac-is-a-man-has-anything-changed-20141114-11mnfn [Accessed 1 Jan. 2018].

Williams, J., Mavin, S., Stead, V., & Elliott, C. (Eds.). (2016). Gender, Media, and Organization: Challenging Mis (s) representations of Women Leaders and Managers. IAP.

STAM, D. A., KNIPPENBERG, D. V., & WISSE, B. (2010). The role of regulatory fit in visionary leadership. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(4), 499-518. DOI:10.1002/job.624

Cheema, S., Akram, A., & Javed, F. (2015). Employee engagement and visionary leadership: Impact on customer and employee satisfaction. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 7(2), 139