I. Introduction Vin group is one of the largest multi-corporation organizations in Asia with the market capital of nearly 16 Billion US Dollars (Vingroup, 2012). In 1993, It was founded in Ukraine under the name Technocom and in 2000 the firm came to Viet Nam and began its journey of becoming the biggest organization in Viet Nam (Vingroup, 2012). It focuses on business fields including Technology & Industry, Trade & Services, and Social enterprise (Vingroup, 2012). In the last 10 years, Vin group has stepped foot in every “hot” industries in Viet Nam such as Vincom Trade Center, Vinschool (Education), VinMec (Medicine), VinGolf (Sport), VinFast (Automation), and so on. The Vin organization is clearly proving its image as a “Vietnamese brand” of good quality, assurance and all around addressed the issues of Southeast Asian individuals. That is why it is chosen as a case study research company for this report. Kinderworld International Group is originally from Singapore, they saw a great opportunity in Viet Nam 22 years ago so they decided to invest in the Education industry (KinderWorld International Group, n.d.). With a highly development rate, Viet Nam GDP has and continues to rise without stopping in many years which opens up spectacular opportunities for businesses such as the Singaporean company. So they have so far opened up 15 campuses in all of Viet Nam, and offer a low-to-high education program from kindergarten to high school and also foundation for university. This company is going to be an excellent leadership and management case study for comparison in this report. II. Findings 1. Managers and Leaders Managers and leaders are the concepts that appear more than common in a typical business environment, but there are still many people who are unsure about the difference or similarity of a leader and a manager or how to differentiate between the two. First of all, managers are the people who steer an organization towards meeting its objectives; a manager’s job is to maintain control over the way an organization does things and, at the same time, to lead, inspire and direct the people under them (OpenStax, 2019). On the other hand, leaders are people who are able to think and act creatively in non-routine situations; furthermore they set out to influence the actions, belief and feelings of others (Morgan, 2020). Leaders seem to come to the fore when there is a crisis or special problem, they are the people who have a clear idea of what they want to achieve and why. Vin Group is a multiindustry organization, so its managers are required to bare a complex and wide set of responsibilities. Besides professionalized knowledge and experiences, managers need to be able to navigate various procedural, structural, and interpersonal challenges in the process of steering a team or a division to achieve certain goals (www.aiuniv.edu, n.d.). Therefore, all the Vin’s managers should perform each of the four essential managerial tasks including planning, organizing, leading and controlling (www.aiuniv.edu, n.d.). A manager’s most important role is the ability to create a strategic plan for achieving goals or objectives. Planning is the process mostly consists of independently working to decide what duties are suitable for which employees, which assignment is prioritized, and making timelines (www.aiuniv.edu, n.d.). The soft skills also play a major role in management because for example if a team leader in Vincom center discusses the short-term and long-term goals with the company leaders, he then creates a plan to fill up the goals however he has some problems communicating with his team members, so his team members could not understand what their tasks are, what the goals are… That is why soft skills in general or communication skill in particular is indispensable for a good manager. The second function is organizing; meaning the manager’s next task after planning is to put the plan into action (Boogaard, 2021). The planning function would not make sense without this function because it helps to execute the plans in the previous function, organizing also helps to demonstrate a well displayed development of the organizational structure (Boogaard, 2021). In this function, the manager’s main activities are as followed: Identifying the important steps of the work, Assigning the tasks to each team’s member who will be in charge for it, then Establishing the authority line in them team to avoid arguments among the team members (Boogaard, 2021). If the managers in Vin Group perform this function well, it will encourage collaboration and increase in relationships between teammates, departments, or even different sectors in the Vin organization (Boogaard, 2021). The third management function is controlling, the controlling function comprises of checking work progress and performance through project execution and making alterations as required (Boogaard, 2021). Supervisors ought to guarantee that representatives meet due dates whereas at the same time adjusting synchronicity among the project’s capital and the general budget. Supervisors got to take remedial activities and be proactive in their approach to guarantee that group individuals meet their relegated due dates (Boogaard, 2021). This function requires the managers to pay more attention because if anything goes wrong and the project crosses over the allowed budget then it will affect not just the project team but also the organization (Boogaard, 2021). Last but not least, the leading organize comprises of persuading and affecting workers to do their job and meet execution standards; be beyond any doubt that successful leadership extends past assigning and ordering workers what to do (Boogaard, 2021). According to Kat Boogaard, an effective manager focuses on “include frequent and clear communication, expressing empathy, being an active listener, maintaining transparency, and empowering the team to perform to the best of their ability” (Boogaard, 2021). It is crucial for a leader to utilize interpersonal skills and change leadership styles for distinctive scenarios in order to get the best outcomes out of the team (Boogaard, 2021). There is one key element that differentiates between a good leader and a bad one which is their leadership styles. To begin with, leadership style is the way in which people are managed, for example some employees are told by their managers what to do but some other employees are asked for opinions by their managers. That is because of the difference in styles of the leaders, style is simply the concept to address the preferences everyone has in the way they do things such as the way they think, interact, relate to others… So in general the term “leadership style” refers to a leader’s behavioral pattern, which the leader reflects in his/her role as a leader (iEduNote, 2018). There are various types of leadership styles but in this report, four most common leadership styles are going to be relate including Autocratic style, Democratic style, Laissez-faire style, Paternalistic style. Firstly, democratic leadership is when the manager makes choices based on the input of each group individual (Becker, 2020). In spite of the fact that he/she makes the ultimate call, each member has an equal right to express their opinions on the project's progress (Becker, 2020). Democratic leadership is so far one of the foremost successful leadership styles because it benefits the lower-level workers to exercise their specialist and power so when they have chance for higher positions in the future they will know how to use it wisely (Becker, 2020). This leadership style is usually found at large companies’ board meetings, where many shares holders get to share their opinions about the company’s directions. Secondly, the autocratic leadership style is technically the opposite of the democratic leadership style. A typical autocratic leader will separate him/her self from employees at the same time give out orders and expect lower-level workers to obey. This leadership style is rarely effective because the employees are usually decreased morale and they will not contribute to the business, they are also demotivated and lack of job satisfaction. The third leadership style is Laissez-faire; this is a French term for “Let them do” so it very much explains the nature of this style. A Laissez-faire leader is more likely to leave the decisions making to his/her employees, so that the employees can be flexible with their approach to work and can encourage them to show creativity and responsibility. This method of leadership can increase the motivation of the employees and give them more job satisfaction which will make them want to contribute more to the company. Last but not least is the Paternalistic style; this is a style in which a leader assumes that his function is paternal or fatherly, the attitude is that treating the relationship between the leader and his/her group as in a family with the leader as the head of family. A paternalistic leader believes in the need to support staff, so he/she will work to help, guide, protect and keep his/her employees happily working together as members of a family. However this might not benefit the company as much as the other leadership styles because the decisions made are usually in the interest of the workers rather than in the benefit of the organization. Each leadership style has its own advantages and disadvantages and not every organization has the same leadership style. That is the reason for a comparison case study between 2 typical organizations which is VIN Group and Kinder World International. First of all, the nature of each organization is unique, Vin group is a multi-industry company and Kinder World is an Education focused company but both firms goals are alike that is profit. Vin Group’s leader is Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong, according to Bloomberg he is a friendly, fun president (Le, 2019). He usually spends time to watch football and basketball with his employees at the company’s sporting center, sometimes he even participates in the football game as a striker. He will reward worthy employees who work truly well, productively, continuously pay attention to his staff, shape the environment to create the best atmosphere as possible (Le, 2019). Undeniably, Mr.Vuong uses the democratic leadership style in his company, he continuously taking part in bonding relationship activities with the employees despite the fact that he is a head of a Billion dollar worth organization! Therefore, the distance between lower workers and top managers slowly disappears; this creates huge benefit to the organization. This leadership style helps him to encourage employees, motivates them to put the interest of the organization on top rather than themselves. This is one of the factors that makes Vin group to become the most expensive organization in Viet Nam. On the other hand, Kinder World International company pursuits a different method of leadership belief. The nature of the company is in the education industry and it is a profitable business model. This type of enterprise is most of the time very keen on their operating process, meaning that everything should runs smoothly and expects very little mistakes during the work hours. This can be explained by the environment full of children, therefore the more professional and high quality it looks the higher the company can charge parents for their children’s education. In reverse to Vin group, this organization uses the autocratic leadership style to run their schools and staff because they must not afford any casualty to happen during business. The autocratic style may seem harsh and strict, however it is very suitable for Kinder World because this leadership style expects the lower executives to obey and do as they are told without any questions. That makes their operations go smoothly and they can make quicker decisions than other leadership styles, for example if there are new teaching programs approved by the top managers then the lower employees must use that new programs in schools immediately without any hesitation or asking for any opinions… A culture is the beliefs and values, attitudes, customs, language, and tastes of a given society or social group. In the context of an organization, culture is the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization, it controls the way employees interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization. According to Johnson and Scholes, organizations have a ‘cultural web’ which operates unconsciously, but never-the-less defines the way things happen in an organization (Francis, 2014). Fig.1: Francis, 2014 There are a total of six elements in the culture web and how they affect the organizational culture as followed: - Rituals and Routines: Rituals: they are activities or events that take place in the organization which emphasizes what is important or it simply is ‘the way things are done around here’. Routine: it is the behaviors that people display both to other employees and external contacts can represent a ‘taken- for- granted’ acceptance about how things should happen, and this can be very difficult to change - Stories: Stories are usually related as past events and people talked about inside and outside the company. The stories told about the history of the organization says a great deal about who and what is important in the company and what is perceived as acceptable behavior. - Symbols: Symbols are something that reflects the nature of the organization for example logos, cars, offices, formal or informal dress codes… For example, For example the Managing Director may have his/her own parking space, giving the impression they are more important than anyone else. In some organizations, they even have separate dining areas for managers and workers, also giving the message managers are more important than workers. - Power structures: It is to indicate the people with real power in the company; this may involve one or two key executives, a whole group of executives, or even a department. The key is that these people have the greatest amount of influence on decisions, operations, and strategic direction. - Control system: For examples financial systems, quality systems, rewards… It generally is the ways that the organization is controlled emphasizes what is important to them. For example if are rewards given for volume of sales or quality of customer service. - Organizational Structure: An organization chart shows the ‘official’ lines of authority for the company. However, an organization can also have people who are highly valued by the managers for their experience or knowledge etc. These people may have ‘unwritten’ lines of power and influence over the organization III. Conclusion In conclusion, each organization has a different leadership style that is suitable with its culture and nature. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the advantages and drawbacks of different methods before applying it to the field. Reference list Becker, B. (2020). The 7 Most Common Leadership Styles & How to Find Your Own. [online] Hubspot.com. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/leadership-styles. Boogaard, K. (2021). What Are the 4 Functions of Management? | Wrike. [online] www.wrike.com. Available at: https://www.wrike.com/blog/four-functions-of-management/. Francis, A. (2014). Johnson and Scholes Cultural Web Model of an Organization. [online] MBA Knowledge Base. Available at: https://www.mbaknol.com/strategicmanagement/johnson-and-scholes-cultural-web-model-of-an-organization/. iEduNote. (2018). Leadership: Definition, Nature, Styles of Leadership. [online] Available at: https://www.iedunote.com/leadership#:~:text=Leadership%20style%20refers%20to%20a. KinderWorld International Group. (n.d.). Message from the Chairman. [online] Available at: https://kinderworld.net/about-us/message-from-the-chairman/ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2022]. Le, P. (2019). Cách quản lý và khen thưởng nhân viên chỉ có ở Vingroup. [online] cafef.vn. Available at: https://cafef.vn/cach-quan-ly-va-khen-thuong-nhan-vien-chi-co-o-vingroup20190702090634656.chn. Morgan, J. (2020). What is leadership, and who is a leader? [online] Chief Learning Officer CLO Media. Available at: https://www.chieflearningofficer.com/2020/01/06/what-isleadership-and-who-is-a-leader/. OpenStax (2019). Major Characteristics of the Manager’s Job. [online] Opentextbc.ca. Available at: https://opentextbc.ca/principlesofmanagementopenstax/chapter/majorcharacteristics-of-the-managers-job/. Vingroup (2012). Vingroup - Mãi mãi tinh thần khởi nghiệp. [online] VinGroup. Available at: https://vingroup.net/en/about. www.aiuniv.edu. (n.d.). The Four Functions of Management: What Managers Need to Know | AIU. [online] Available at: https://www.aiuniv.edu/degrees/business/articles/functions-ofmanagement#:~:text=Originally%20identified%20by%20Henri%20Fayol.
