There is a growing recognition of the increasing importance of 'local leadership' practice within multi-unit service contexts, given the threat to costly land-based retail infrastructures from smart technologies. Multi-site organizations are economically significant, but currently under-researched and poorly understood. In Effective Multi-Unit Leadership, Chris Edger looks at that key managerial cohort in the retail, hospitality and service sectors operating between the centre and unit - the Multi-Unit Leader (MUL). This district, area or regional manager, is tasked with maximising revenue and profit from a complex and ambiguous positional space, being sandwiched between the centre and unit, facing the MUL paradox: how do they motivate unit managers and team members to provide great service whilst simultaneously fulfilling the Centre's compliance agenda? Based on extensive case study research across a range of multi-unit service organisations, Edger advances an Integrated Model of MUL that elucidates how key activities (sales-led service, systems and standards - 3Ss) are driven through behavioural practices (commitment, control and change - 3Cs) underpinned by MUL personal characteristics (expertise, emotional intelligence and energy - 3Es). Central to this model is the notion of 'portfolio optimisation through social exchange' (POSE) where MULs apply 'local leadership', leveraging their portfolios through the deft application of exchange-based currencies. Replete with case studies, Effective Multi-Unit Leadership will appeal to high potential unit managers; existing multi-unit leaders who want to improve their performance levels; and retail/service directors wishing to train and coach their direct reports; as well as business educators and those with an academic interest in organisational studies.
Land-based multi-unit service enterprises face significant economic disruption at the present time. A pivotal actor in these organisations is the Multi-Unit Leader (MUL) - otherwise known as District, Area or Regional Manager. Given inherent challenges and their complex positional space, how do effective MULs optimise performance? In his book, Effective Multi-Unit Leadership - full of up-to-date case studies - Chris Edger advances an Integrated Model of MUL that elucidates how key activities (sales-led service, systems and standards - 3Ss) are driven through behavioural practices (commitment, control and change - 3Cs) underpinned by MUL personal characteristics (expertise, emotional intelligence and energy - 3Es). Central to this model is the notion of 'portfolio optimisation through social exchange' (POSE) where MULs apply 'local leadership', leveraging their portfolios through the deft application of exchange-based currencies. As such, this book provides an essential guide to practitioners and academics on the art and science of Effective Multi-Unit Leadership.
'For decades we have focused on what makes top leaders successful. [Chris] Edger has taken us to a different level and focuses on leading from the middle. It is not the strategies that are necessarily wrong in under-performing multi-unit enterprises but rather the failure to consistently execute them. This book balances academic rigour with practical application ideas that can help companies to use this undervalued group of leaders more effectively.' Reg Sindall, Executive Vice President, Corporate Resources , Burberry plc 'This book offers an in-depth assessment of the pressures, challenges and changes facing those of us in multi-unit leadership, together with a framework for making sense of, and developing, our practical experience. Multi-unit leaders, working in constant tension between units and the centre, should read this book and then look again, as I did, at how they lead their teams to deliver results for customers and investors.' Ian Burke Chairman and Chief Executive, The Rank Group plc 'This book provides the definitive guide to successful Multi-Unit Leadership in Multiple Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Chains' Kevin Todd, President and Chief Executive of Rosinter Restaurants, Russia 'Effective Multi-Unit Leadership is a refreshingly engaged enquiry into an important and under-researched topic. In the vanguard of recent enquiries into the activities and practices of critical executives in large businesses, this book draws upon primary data and pithy examples from industry to identify key factors answering the question, "what makes a good multi-unit leader?'" These findings will be of great interest to academics and practitioners alike.' Duncan Angwin, Oxford Brookes University, UK 'Recommended reading...This book is a detailed and informative read, but its layout and organization of information means that it can be broken into units of learning. It can be used by ,ulti-unit leaders looking to improve their own performance or by tho
