Task One

Leadership plays a significant role for the formulation and implementation of strategies to achieve the competitive advantage for companies irrespective of any sector. A competency is the ability of the individuals to actively use and acquire the knowledge in complex and unpredictable situations (Asree & Zain, 2010). This is a significant attribute of an individual. The increased importance of leadership competencies is due to the rapid changes in the organizations. Competencies take into consideration knowledge, skills, behavioral and personal characteristics, expertise, motives, values and beliefs. The competencies of the leaders and the management as a whole have direct relations with the success of an organization (Gosling & Bolden, 2006). Leadership also helps in clarifying the vision of the organization and involves management, remuneration, motivation and analytical skills. A leader enhances the performance of the organization through the promotion of creativity and innovation. The report discusses about the effectiveness and impact of leadership on the performance of Bank of New Zealand, one of the largest banks of the country.

Task One

1. Leadership competency

Leadership competencies refer to the skills and behaviors of a leader that contribute to the superior performance of an organization. The organizations are able to make proper identification of the competent leaders. Companies focus on the leadership competencies and development of skills for the better promotion of leadership in an organization. Leadership competencies help the employees in dealing with the changes in the organization and adapt themselves so that the change is not able to bring adverse impacts on the operational activities (Salaman, 2004). Politics within a team or between teams are very prevalent in most of the companies where leadership plays a significant role. A competent leader is able to mitigate this issue and stop any kinds of politics in the company. He also has the onus to influence others. Different companies are suffering from different problems, which may be internal as well external. A competent leader is responsible for solving the problems and take strategic decisions so that the company can enjoy competitive advantage (Storey & Mangham, 2004). One of the aspects of leadership competencies is the act of taking risks and brings innovation in the products and services of the company. Anthony Healy (Managing Director and Chief Executive  Officer of Bank of New Zealand) has certain core competencies that have positive impacts on the performance of the organization in the competitive market. A leader needs to have honesty and integrity in the different operational activities of the organization. Healy is having high integrity in performing the role of leadership. The interpersonal skill of a leader helps in creating good relations with the other employees and subordinates.

The interpersonal skills of Anthony Healy have helped in creation of a good working environment that helped to mitigate many issues. Problems of customers in the banking industry are very common and the leader plays an important role in these scenarios for giving proper solutions to them. Interpersonal skills help in proper coordination among the employees so that the problems can be mitigated through discussion among them. He is also able to connect with the other employees through oral as well as written communication. A leader has the onus to give presentations about the company and other critical, significant issues to let the employees know about the performance using data. Written communication is a competency of the leaders who are able to provide relevant information to the stakeholders and the employees. The documents are usually concise, clear and organized. A leader needs to be flexible enough to interact with others. Problem solving is another quality and competency of the leaders who can be successful. Anthony Healy is able to adapt to new information at a rapid pace. He has faced a number of problems and evaluated numerous alternative solutions that helped the Bank of New Zealand to overcome many financial and managerial problems. These have been the management qualities of the leader in the personal level.

Leadership competencies

The management qualities of the leader at the organizational level are the team building, technical credibility, decisiveness, negotiation skills, accountability and customer service. The competency of team building helped Anthony Healy to create a good team of members who will be able to solve problems through the process of discussion. Healy inspires the team through trust, pride and spirit. He has been able to anticipate as well as meet the needs of the customers of the bank. He is also popular for the marketing and financial management of the bank. The proper use of technology helps the Bank of New Zealand to keep updated data and connect various other departments like SAP.

The leadership competencies of the managers of Bank of New Zealand including Healy include guiding the employees correctly to achieve the target. They have tried to enhance the skills of the employees by giving them proper training by arranging for seminars. He is able to realize what the other banks are doing with respect to strategies and features. He has been quite successful in making everyone in the bank learn new things and apply appropriately. Here lies the popularity of the leadership of Healy. There has been an effective communication among all the employees and everyone helps each other in need of anything. The work culture has greatly been enhanced due to competent leadership of Anthony Healy. His leadership competency was reflected in the annual report of the organization where the bank has earned huge revenue.     

The impact of leadership and management on the success of an organization is very significant. The success of the leaders always initiate with a vision. This helps in formulating strategies that will help the company in the long-run to become competitive in the market. The leadership of Anthony Healy has positive impacts on the business as well as on the employees and the bank is able to make huge profits in the last financial year. He has been a mentor for almost all the employees in the different branches of Bank of New Zealand. He is a manager and at the same times a great leader who has shown a vision and motivate the employees to serve the customers well. The effectiveness of the leadership and the management of the organization is that all of them are very committed towards the organization and the customers (Boies, Fiset, & Gill, 2015). These have enhanced the satisfaction levels of the customers. Proper implementation of the strategies by the leaders and the management of an organization helps in mitigating various issues that can affect the firm in various ways in the long run.   

The activities of leaders involve great deal of thoughts and sometimes become frustrating as it involves dealing with lot of people. Anthony Healy and the other managers working under him are very patient and having integrity that help to deal with any type of situations with ease. They have remained focused in doing the ethical and right things and avoiding the illegal measures of doing business. The effectiveness of leadership lies in the fact of directing the organization in the right track and show new ways of doing business so that others are motivated in following the same path. Managers and leaders achieve their goals through people who are engaged in decision-making (Robbins, 2014). The emotional intelligence of the leaders is very high that helped in building strong relationships with the customers and the subordinates. Proper leadership has helped the company in making huge profits in the last financial year.

Management qualities

Any leaders have the chance to make mistakes. The leaders of the Bank of New Zealand had made mistakes in the past that affected the goodwill of the company and the profit was reduced remarkably. They have learned about their mistakes and tried to mend their ways to achieve success in the future. The bank has been able to deal with the rapid economic downturn that is persisting all over the world due to effective leadership and management.

Effective leadership and management help in creating a vision so that a credible plan can be formulated and performed accordingly (Armstrong, 2016). There are constant changes in any business scenario including the banks. These changes are very prominent in the banking sector. The authentic leadership and values are significant for the effective leadership in an organization (Ewen, et al., 2013). The effectiveness of leadership lies in the fact that the leaders of an organization are engaged with change management, talent management, project management, conducting training programs in the organization for the new employees to get accustomed with the new processes and technologies and handling of a large project (Koohang & Hatch, 2017). The recruitment of staffs and giving them proper trainings come under the purview of the management and the leaders at the management of the bank. The recruitment and the selection processes of the bank are very good and transparent through which they are able to attract qualified employees from different countries (Lakshman, 2013). These processes have indirectly helped the company in gaining success because of higher productivity.

Effectiveness of leadership lies in the fact that they are able to combine the goals with that of the employees (MmcCarthy & Hammond, 2013). The managers try to align their goals with the goals of the employees of Bank of New Zealand. This requires planning and proper communication with the employees which effective management is able to do in the company. The effectiveness of the leadership style in Bank of New Zealand defines that the company has been able to create a fair system within the organization. This system is regarding the rewards, recognition of performance of the employees and the various kinds of benefits that encourage them to perform better for the next time. A good management helps the employees in maintaining the work-life balance.

The main objective of any organization is to survive in the competition by constant improvement of the organizational performance. The effective leaders of most of the organizations motivate the employees to become more committed, which in turn increases the performance of the organization (McCleskey, 2014). The different styles of leadership like transformational, translation and directive help in increasing the performance to a greater height (Rockstuhl, Seiler, Ang, Dyne, & Annen, 2011). The leadership of Anthony Healy has increased the performance of the Bank of New Zealand. He has been successful in guiding the organization to achieve the goals. There has been a good relationship between the performance of the followers and the behavior of their leader. The employees have accepted Anthony Healy as their leader and he has been able to accomplish the goals of the organization. He has been able to inspire the employees and the subordinates working under him by creating a good work culture. Effective leadership is able to influent a group of people in accomplishing the goals of an organization (Mole, 2004). An efficient leader is able to supervise every aspect of the operational activities such as the performance of the individual employee in terms of productivity (Hoch & Kozlowski, 2014). Supervision on a regular basis helps in accessing the performance better by the leader so that improvement can be done (Lee, 2013). Healy formulated some strategies that helped to overcome the economic barriers of the country and get success by the organization by serving the customers.

Leadership and management effectiveness of Bank of New Zealand

Leaders are very considerate when they show their trust, concern and openness for the well-being of the employees (Northouse, 2012). The different styles of leadership help in creating different working environment in the organization. Transactional, transformational and authoritative leaderships help in influencing the employees to a greater extent. The leaders are responsible for creating the initiating structure to make sure that the work is completed within stipulated time (Reave, 2005). This takes into consideration the provision of clear directions, monitoring the performances of the employees, planning and creation of work schedules. This helps in completing any work very systematically. Power is given to the leaders so that any unethical practices can be stopped through evaluation, correction and training the employees when performance needs any improvement (Xenikou & Simosi, 2006). The leaders play an important role in rewarding the employees according to the performance so that they get motivated to enhance the performance of the organization. Healy has created a strong hierarchy that helped the company in achieving good results for long-term. He is an intelligent, charismatic and enthusiastic leader who is popular in the organization. His popularity has crossed the barriers of the company and is known in the banking industry of New Zealand.

A competent leader is able to identify the important key performance indicators that help in the proper evaluation of the performance of the company. The key performance indicators of the management of the Bank of New Zealand takes into consideration are transactions per branch, mortgage loan pull-through rate, application of mortgage approval rate, average mortgage loan vale, average mortgage applicant income, percentage of mortgage loans abandoned by borrowers and percentage of commercial loans secured by the collateral. Other factors for the indicators are percentage of commercial loans under syndication, revenue per registered financial representative, percentage of commercial loans subject to pre-payment penalty, assets under management and banking efficiency ratio. Leaders also support the human resource department who are responsible for the framing of different rewards and recognition programs that enhance the motivation of the employees (Crawford, Rich, Buckman, & Bergeron, 2014). Absence of any reward programs make the employees de-motivated that have adverse impacts on the performance and productivity of the organization.

The strategies of the leader are such that the income of the bank has increased and people have started taking more loans. There are a lot of banks in the country and the competition is very steep in the banking industry. There have been criticisms when the bank reduced the rate of savings for the employees. The income of the bank has increased considerably even if the number of customers had fallen by a small percentage. Discipline has been the greatest quality of Healy. He is a very ethical person who was able to stop the unethical practices in the company like giving loans to people unethically.  

Conclusion

The report puts forward the significance of effective leadership and management for the success of the organizations. The different styles of leadership help in creating different positive environments within the organization that motivate the employees to produce their best. The different qualities of the leaders that are relevant to take the company to a better position have been discussed in the report which helps to know the basic requirements of leadership. The impacts of leadership and management on the performance of an organization have been explained taking into consideration the analysis of the Bank of New Zealand. The analysis entails that the leaders of the leading bank has been quite successful in putting a positive impact on the employees to work diligently and serve the customers better through enhanced performance. The report has inferred that every organization is in need of an effective leadership for its success in the long-run.

References

Armstrong, M. (2016). Armstrong’s Handbook of Management and Leadership for Hr: Developing Effective People Skills for Better Leadership and Management. Kogan Page Publishers. 

Asree, S., Zain, M., & Rizal Razalli, M. (2010). Influence of leadership competency and organizational culture on responsiveness and performance of firms. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 22(4), 500-516.

Boies, K., Fiset, J., & Gill, H. (2015). Communication and trust are key: Unlocking the relationship between leadership and team performance and creativity. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(6), 1080-1094.

Bolden, R., & Gosling, J. (2006). Leadership competencies: time to change the tune?. Leadership, 2(2), 147-163.

Crawford, E. R., Rich, B. L., Buckman, B., & Bergeron, J. (2014). The antecedents and drivers of employee engagement. Employee engagement in theory and practice, 57-81.

Ewen, C., Wihler, A., Blickle, G., Oerder, K., Ellen, B. P., Douglas, C., & Ferris, G. R. (2013). Further specification of the leader political skill–leadership effectiveness relationships: Transformational and transactional leader behavior as mediators. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(4), 516-533.

Hoch, J. E., & Kozlowski, S. W. (2014). Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership, structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 99(3), 390.

Koohang, A., & Hatch, M. (2017). Leadership Effectiveness in IT-Centered Organizations: Gender and Levels of Management. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 1-7.

Lakshman, C. (2013). Biculturalism and attributional complexity: Cross-cultural leadership effectiveness. Journal of International Business Studies, 44(9), 922-940.

McCarthy, A. M., & Hammond, M. (2013, January). Understanding Public Sector Leadership Effectiveness: Do Multiple Perspectives Matter?. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2013, No. 1, p. 16900). Academy of Management.

McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117

Mole, G. (2004). Can leadership be taught? In Storey, J. (Eds.), Leadership in organizations: Current issues and key trends. Psychology Press.

Northouse, P. G. (2012).  Introduction to leadership concepts and practices (2nd ed.).  Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

Porter, M. E., & Lee, T. H. (2013). The strategy that will fix health care. Harvard business review, 91(10), 1-19.

Reave, L. (2005). Spiritual values and practices related to leadership effectiveness. The leadership quarterly, 16(5), 655-687.

Robbins, S., De Cenzo, D. A., Coulter, M. (2014). Fundamentals of Management: Essential Concepts and Applications. Pearson Education, Limited. New York.

Rockstuhl, T., Seiler, S., Ang, S., Van Dyne, L., &Annen, H. (2011). Beyond general intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ): The role of cultural intelligence (CQ) on cross?border leadership effectiveness in a globalized world. Journal of Social Issues, 67(4), 825-840.

Salaman, G. (2004). Competence of managers, competence of leaders. In Storey, J. (Eds.), Leadership in organizations: Current issues and key trends. Psychology Press.

Storey, J., & Mangham, I.  (2004). Bringing the strands together. In Storey, J. (Eds.), Leadership in organizations: Current issues and key trends. Psychology Press.

Xenikou, A., &Simosi, M. (2006). Organizational culture and transformational leadership as predictors of business unit performance. Journal of managerial psychology, 21(6), 566-579.