About Corporate Leadership

The leadership of an organization greatly influences how well it adheres to its stated aims and objectives. This article provides a thorough explanation of Barclays PLC's leadership structure and discusses how it has contributed to the bank's current problems. Barclays has a cooperative organizational structure that encourages both vertical and horizontal staff communication. The Board of Directors serves as the organization's chief executive, is tasked with approving business decisions, and is responsible for maintaining operational effectiveness. John McFarlane serves as the chairman of the firm and assists the board in coming up with ideas that can give it a competitive advantage over the rivals in the market. The Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley reports directly to the board and is mandated with the role of ensuring that the company meets its set long-term and short-term goals and objectives (Leadership | Barclays Directors & Leadership Team | Barclays, 2017). The Chief Operations Officer is Mr. Paul Compton, and his responsibility is ensuring that there is efficiency in accounts, operational controls and trade processes. The organization also has a Chief Finance Officer (Tushar Morzaria) that oversees all its finances. Lynn Atkin is the Human Resource director and is mandated with recruitment, suspension and recognition tasks. Other leadership positions in the firm include Market Risk Officer, Chief Information Officer, and departmental managers. All these leaders are fully qualified to serve in their respective position having had adequate experience and exposure in the banking sector.

Causes of the difficulties faced by the company

There are various factors that have contributed to the challenges that are currently faced by the Barclays Corporation. Infiltration of the markets by the new entrants has contributed to an increase in the number of financial institutions in those areas where Barclays operates. This has since led to an increase in the aggressive competition thus leading to a reduction in its market share and financial performance (Davies, 2017). In the past two years, the company’s consumer base has been on the decline leading to a drop in its financial performance.

The financial challenges in the recent past have also been caused by the poor working relationship among its leadership and employees. With the changes in the company’s management across its branches, vertical communication has been impaired, with some employees claiming that they are micromanaged. The top leadership, on its side, has failed to deal with employee issues, thus leading to lack of motivation and morale among the workers within the organization. Some of the most skilled employees have since transferred from the company, leaving it in a worse-off position in terms of financial performance.

The role of leadership in the difficulties

The leadership of Barclays has been one of the reasons behind the challenges faced by the company. The board of directors and the departmental managers have failed to come up with strategies that are aimed at giving the bank a competitive advantage over the rival firms in those regions where it operates. This has in return contributed to a reduction in the sales generated by the firm in the past two years. With the mushrooming of new banks, it is a high time that the management of Barclays PLC came up with business models and strategies that can enhance its products demand and consumer base.

Other than the lack of approval of unique business strategies, a poor working relationship between the leaders and their employees in some of the branches has ended up contributing to increased cases of reduced organizational performance. This has mainly affected the bank’s African segment that has experienced a rise in the closure of its branches. In the quest of dealing with the challenge, it is a high time that the leaders came up with platforms where employees can air their grievances freely (Allio, 2013).

Conclusion

Leadership is an instrumental aspect of any organization. One of the factors that have contributed to the difficulties faced by Barclays has been its unstable organizational structure. The leadership team needs to come up with measures that will be vital in the eradication of challenges currently faced by the bank.

References

Allio, R. (2013). Leaders and leadership – many theories, but what advice is reliable?. Strategy Leadership, 41(1), 4-14. Retrieved from http://file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/Leaders_and_leadership%20(1).pdf

Davies, A. (2017). Barclays plans to close around 54 branches by the end of 2017. The Independent. Retrieved 16 September 2017, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/barclays-branch-closures-54-end-2017-year-cut-costs-uk-customers-high-streets-a7893656.html

Leadership | Barclays Directors & Leadership Team | Barclays. (2017). Home.barclays. Retrieved 16 September 2017, from https://www.home.barclays/about-barclays/leadership-team.html