Leadership at Ikea

Employee motivation is, or at least must be, one of the key issues for directors, managers and personnel managers. The leader must be able to find the sensitive strings of his subordinates, which can be motivated by influencing them to achieve high performance. The correct use of motivation encourages staff to make more efficient use of their knowledge, skills, and talents. In today's turbulent, often chaotic environment, commercial success depends on the employee's talent and effort. Despite the many existing theories and practices, some of the motivation of leaders today remains a mystical term. This is partly due to the fact that people are motivated by different things and techniques.

IKEA does a lot of effort to implement their new company’s strategy for 2020, so called, Positive & Planet Positive Strategy. In spite of IKEA’s commitment to human rights, it is difficult for them to control their entire global supply chain. IKEA with other of retailers, were lighted on having suppliers in India which employ labor. However, IKEA declares that those proves were found in carpets producer from India from only four suppliers. (Max Ebnother, 2014)

This assignment had to be written for the class of Management and Organizations at Stenden University, course IBMS, first year. We had a group of 6 and had to work it out together. We were enjoying getting into the world of IKEA, the world’s most furniture store on the market.

“Motivating Employees” is a book about how employee motivation is driven by companies that invest and grow their employees. One of the most important traits of highly effective and successful companies is that employees are happy and have fun at work. Leadership is not assaulting your employees, but to lead your employees you need to motivate by using caring,

By supporting and resourcing, a leader provides an environment that is not only uplifting to the members, but one which propels actions and positive change. If members are in an environment where they know they will be supported and can find resources when in need, they will be more apt to strive for improvement and creating optimal goals. The act of engaging in honest self-evaluation adds to the latter because in addition to a supportive, resourceful environment, the members of the organization will see their leader trying to better themselves and they will do the same which in turn will generate positive change and an optimal atmosphere for goal achievement as well as goal development. Fostering collaboration as a servant leader is essential as well because it is an action that has the power to generate contemplation, problem solving, and openness. Since the servant leader is participating in the collaboration and providing an environment for the members of the organization in which to do so, it allows the followers to see that their leader does not hold themselves above everyone, but feels that each person’s input is vital to goal achievement. Communication is

It’s important to have motivated workforce, so it can enhance productivity of company. IKEA makes sure to understand its staffs and wat motivates them. Besides satisfying their basic salary needs, IKEA ensures that job security is assured for each worker by valuing all workers and creating this sense of belonging n the company. Each worker has equal opportunities for promotion and career advancement. Motivation is also important between staffs themselves and with IKEAs friendly working environment has helped improve working relationships in every individual staff. Each human has different needs in their lives, so knowing what they desire is important to management. It can be associated with Maslow’s Hierarchy Motivation Theory (Griffin, R. (2014) Fundamentals of Management (7th Edition, pg.15) stating “people are motivated by a hierarchy of needs, including monetary incentives and social acceptance”. There are no best motivations method, however, motivation is based on individuals or the

IKEA is a privately held, international company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds, chairs, desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer.

The path-goal theory’s focus is on the leader’s behavior that can allow for the employees to reach personal and organizational goals. A leader’s attitude has impact on the attitude of the staff. Leaders can reward employees when goals are met which can increase employee motivation, job satisfaction and overall productivity (Schultz, 2010). This theory identifies four styles of leadership as directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented (Schultz, 2010).

As the company grew through the 1960’s and 1970’s the culture of the company was starting to solidify. Kamprad had a very strong idea of how he wanted the company to operate and be managed. He was eager to share his ideas on management with his staff and thus authored the document, “A Furniture Dealer’s Testament” in 1976. The document described the nine cornerstones of IKEA culture and his vision statement, “To create a better everyday life for the many people.” The testament nine cornerstones were as follows:

IKEA is one of the largest multinational companies in the world dealing with several products. The company sells and designs furniture appliances and home accessories at an affordable price. Ikea has over three hundred stores worldwide enjoying the good name it has created for itself. While they are one of the most profitable furniture companies in the world there are significant challenges and threats that have been overcome and are still needed to be tackled.

This journal article on the path-goal approach theory is a study that carefully examines the rapport and connection amongst leaders and followers job expectancies. This model designed by House (1974) addresses the directive, supportive, participative and achievement –oriented components of leadership and subordinates. Additionally, it studies the conduct and character of leaders while investigating situational contingences that transform those behaviors. Therefore, the leader’s role in this model is to ensure that they provide guidance and support while demonstrating behavior that is motivational by inspiring followers to work diligently to achieve organizational goals that were carefully outlined to facilitate success. Hence, the purpose of this study was to test the validity of the path-goal theory with reference to expectancy theory. Conversely, it revealed that cellular companies gives adequate powers to its managers to offer incentives to individuals performing at high levels. However, a weaker relationship between the leader conduct and the followers’ job expectancy was the outcome. One exception noted was that of supportive leader behavior which was revealed at the conclusion of the study. Subsequently, the behavior of the leader had a tremendous impact on outcome. Leaders must assist subordinates throughout the path by eliminating road blocks along the way. The primary function of the leader in this research was to motivate subordinates and increase payoffs

Ikea has grown into a worldwide phenomenon with an almost like cult following and the world’s largest furniture retailer due in large part to its founder Ingvar Kamprad’s charismatic personality combined with his own philosophy of business management and the Scandinavian style of open management he has parlayed a fortune that will be left to one of his children who has proven their own business acumen by running one of his many companies profitably. According to Kamprad himself in his July 23, 2008 Acticule published by stoked in Major Companies Kamprad states;

The stores have restaurant, childcare facilities and plenty of parking. Customers can drop off their kids at the playroom and have delicious meal when they are tired. All of these not only provide customer with a comfortable shopping environment but also let them make an ‘IKEA trip’ and enjoy the fun of buying. Besides, IKEA’s distinctive show rooms help creating differentiation. Products are strategically placed in different small spaces like rooms which allow customers imaging this furniture in their own home. This makes everything looks more attractive.

In PEST analysis, we will look into what will be affect by the business environment. It includes political environment, economical environment, social environment and technological environment.

IKEA was founded in Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943. IKEA has been established around the world in 26 different countries. Within these countries IKEA has a total of 303 stores. This business is effective in adapting to change through the use of the four key business functions; operations, finance, marketing, and human resources.