Management And Leadership

Home Depot Management and Leadership

Management is defined as the act or manner of managing, handling, direction, or control (dictionary.com). Leadership is defined as an act or instance of leading; guidance; direction (dictionary.com). They do not mean the same thing; however, it is thought that a manager should have leadership skills to be able to manage an organization. Not all managers have great leadership skills and just because a manager does not have these skills does not mean he or she is a bad manager.

The organization that I chose is Home Depot. There are many management and leadership roles within the organization. At Home Depot, dedication to serve their customers and providing the ultimate shopping experience is the highest priority. Helping to maintain this focus and commitment is a leadership team that believes in the company's values. The team also believes that a commitment to great customer service will create value for all stakeholders.

Home Depot is built on the principle of creating value for our stockholders while never forgetting our values. We seek to be profitable, responsible and balance the needs of our communities. Throughout our company, our associates are challenged with finding ways in which we can provide the best products for our customers, provide the best possible work environment for our associates, have a positive impact on the communities in which we operate, and provide excellent returns for our stockholders.

Working in a Store Support Center, rather than a corporate headquarters, their leadership team knows that the most important people in the fabric of the company are the store associates and store leadership teams. Frank Blake was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Home Depot in January 2007 (Sellers, P.). He joined Home Depot in 2002 as executive vice president of Business Development and Corporate Operations and was responsible for real estate, store construction, credit services, strategic business development, growth initiatives, call centers and the Home Services business.

Mr. Blake took over the position, which was held by Bob Nardelli who was forced to resign his post over the controversy surrounding his lucrative pay package. However, the underlying reason had just as much to do with his handling of the transformation of the company after he took the reins in December 2000 (Azzato, M.). With no previous retail experience, Nardelli's gruff management style is said to have alienated several key top-level managers. Mr. Blake and Mr. Nardelli have some similar qualities such as Blake also had no retail business experience before he joined Home Depot but also he has never ran a major business such as Home Depot.

Besides the CEO there are seven Executive Managers, at the corporate level. Tim Crow Executive Vice President of Human Resources, Joe DeAngelo Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, Robert DeRodes Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Craigh Menear Executive Vice President - Merchandising, Paul Raines Executive Vice President, U.S. Stores, Jim Snyder Vice President - Secretary and Acting General Counsel, and Carol B. Tome Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President - Corporate Services (Home Depot.com). These individuals all manage these areas within their expertise and in a way they are being leaders to the lower level managers but they are not leading the teams at each individual store.

Next on the management structure are the eight employees that are part of the Senior Leadership Team. Roger Adams, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Diane Dayhoff, Senior Vice President - Investor Relations, Marvin Ellison, President - Northern Division, Joe Izganics, President - Southern Division, Bruce Merino, President - EXPO and Western Division, Ricardo Saldivar, President - Mexico, Brad Shaw, Senior Vice President - Corporate Communications and External Affairs, Annette Verschuren, President - The Home Depot Canada and Asia (Home Depot.com). Each of these leaders are in charge of leading the areas in their divisions. They must report to the managers above them.

There is also the Board of Directors, which consists of eleven members. These members have control over the company, which is in turn divided between two bodies: the board of directors, and the shareholders.

I personally feel that the true leaders are the supervisors and department leads that work at each individual store. They are the ones that work together with all the employees within their store and/or department. They are able to give each employee the hands on experience that they may need to improve their job and to do it sound. These leaders are able to guide and train their employees on customer satisfaction. Home Depot believes in commitment to their customers, so immense leadership is very important not just at the corporate or regional levels but also at each service center.

The four functions of management, Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling are important in every organization. It is hard to run an organization with out these functions; the company needs to have all four functions, especially a large corporation such as Home Depot to run smoothly.

Planning is when management systematically makes choices about the goals and activities that an individual, group, or the overall organization will pursue. This function is veered more towards the upper management. They are the ones that analyze the information that is passed along the organizational structure. Once this valuable information is received they are able to make choices in regards to the company's short and long term goals. Whether to revise the original goals at hand or to maybe implement a new one are all choices that have to be made. It is also important to monitor the short-term goals to make sure they are being met and if they are not being met, then why. There are four different planning functions that break planning down even further and those are Strategic, Tactical, Operational, and Contingency.

Strategic planning is a set of procedures for making decisions about the organizations long-term goals and strategies. This part of planning should come from the Executive Managers within Home Depot. They are the ones that are extra concerned as regards to the company's growth plus have to deal with the stockholders while the leaders that work in the service centers are more concerned about customer happiness.

Tactical planning is a set of procedures for translating broad strategic goals and plans into specific goals and plans that are relevant to a distinct portion of the organization such as a functional area like marketing. I would also think that corporate managers