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To me a manager is an individual who is n charge of a certain group of tasks, or a certain subset of a company. A manager often has a staff of people who report to him or her, but can also just be held responsible for managing a process. As an example, a restaurant will often have a front-of-house manager who helps the patrons, and supervises the hosts; or a specific office project can have a manager, known simply as the project manager.
Certain departments within a company designate their managers to be line managers, while others are known as staff managers, depending upon the function of the department. Hangman (2002) emphasizes that “Managers achieve organizational objectives by arranging for other people to perform whatever tasks are required, and do no not necessarily carry out these tasks themselves. ” This however can be argued for some manager’s roles but not for roles such as one-Person Businesses or accounts managers etc. I found it better to describe a manager by a list of responsibilities rather than a specific quote.
The following list I found cited on a business educational website “businesslike”, found to be the most informative in describing the roles of a manager; 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Implementing tactical actions Detailed budgeting Measuring and reporting performance Applying rules and policies Implementing disciplinary rules Organizing people and tasks within structures Recruiting people for jobs Checking and managing ethics and morals Developing people 10. Problem-solving 11. Planning 12. Improving productivity and efficiency 13.
Motivating and encouraging others 14. Delegating and training For the record I am aware not all of the above accounts for all roles as it is dependent on the position, I do feel that all management roles will contain some aspect of the above. Trucker (2012) famously stated that “management is doing hinges right; leadership is doing the right things. ” Great leaders possess dazzling social intelligence, a zest for change, and above all, vision that allows them to set their sights on the ‘things” that truly merit attention.
Which leads me nicely onto the question What is leadership? Defender (2006) describes “The measure of true leadership is being able to get people to do things they didn’t want to do or didn’t expect they could do. ” Clark and Clark (1996) choose the following definitions “Leadership is an activity or set of activities, observable to others, that occurs in a group, organization, or institution and which involves a leader and followers who willingly subscribe to common purposes and work together to achieve them.
Leadership is an observable activity. It is not mysterious. It can be described, and its effects can be traced back to the activity. Leadership involves willing collaboration as part of the relationship between leaders and followers. The leader persuades; the leader does not coerce. The leader articulates a vision for the group, illuminates a path to the goals, builds confidence in the group’s ability to achieve them, and earns trust by evidence of integrity, commitment, rage, and a demonstrated willingness to take personal risks for the group. Similar to Management I found a list of responsibilities for the role of a leader described on a business educational website (businesslike) 1. New visions and aims Creating 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Establishing organizational financial targets Deciding what needs measuring and reporting Making new rules and policies Making disciplinary rules Deciding structures, hierarchies and work groups Creating new job roles Establishing ethical and moral positions Developing the organization Problem-anticipation Visualizing
Conceiving new opportunities Inspiring and empowering others Planning and organizing succession, and.. All management responsibilities listed previously during responsibilities of a manager, (which mostly and typically are delegated to others, ideally aiding motivation and people-development) Keeping all the above in mind I would like to discuss the concept of a manager being an effective leader.
With the varying degrees of management it is possible for managers to take on some aspects of the a leader, a business educational website ‘businesslike’ talks about Management Vs. leadership responsibilities and how Management may be a bigger responsibility than leadership depending on the management role as is can be much bigger than the scale of a leadership role, for example the quality assurance manager for a global corporation compared to the leader of a small independent advertising agency.
They also describe how managers may also be leaders which means they may be doing or asked to do things which appear in the leadership responsibilities list above. Also, it is important to note again that many managers are also leaders, and so will be doing, or perhaps will be asked to do, things which appear in the leadership list revived earlier in this assignment. Sims (2002) writes “managers motivate employees, direct the activities of others, select the most effective communication channel, or resolve conflicts among members, they are engaging in leading. I have described leaders there attributes and responsibilities so taking this in mind can a leader make an effective manager? Referring back to a business educational website (businesslike) it states “good leadership always includes responsibility for managing. Lots of the managing duties may be delegated through others, but the leader is responsible for ensuring there is appropriate and effective management for the situation or group concerned. As described earlier leaders can be found in all aspects of life and business for example a leader of a small business may also be the managing director, where they are also responsible for the task carried out primarily by managers, tasks include measuring and reporting performance, problem-solving and improving productivity and efficiency. Although the leader’s main goal is to drive and lead the business forward the need to manage is within the capabilities. Dependent on the role I feel it is both beneficial for a leader to have managerial attributes ND to be an effective manager, having leadership qualities I feel is also necessary. Leadership is more about change, inspiration, setting the purpose and direction, and building the enthusiasm, unity and ‘staying-power’ for the journey ahead. Management is less about change, and more about stability and making the best use of resources to get things done… But here is the key point: leadership and management are not separate. And they are not necessarily done by different people. It’s not a case of, ‘You are either a manager or a leader’. Leadership and management overlap… ” (Coolers, 2011). What makes a great leader?
Inspiring a shared vision is an important aspect of leadership because leaders are expected to create and communicate organizational direction (Sense & Hoer, 2004). Organizations need to have people with appropriate skills but, more importantly, develop these skills to keep AU faith with worldwide / customer needs. Carmaker(2004) describes learning organizations involve corporate vision, corporate environment that focuses on development of the employees’ talent that has intellectual (thinking) and pragmatic (doing) dimensions.
According to a study by the Hay Group, a global management inconstancy, there are 75 key components of employee satisfaction (Lamb and McKee, 2004). They found that: * Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction in an organization. * Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to winning organizational trust and confidence: Helping employees understand the company’s overall business strategy. 2.
Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives. Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an employee’s own vision is doing ? relative to strategic business objectives. So in my opinion its beneficial to be trustworthy and have the ability to communicate a vision of where the organization needs to go. The leaders values and commitment are key to be a successful leader. Clark and Clark (1996) describes The leader to be someone who persuades; the leader does not coerce.
The leader formulates and develops a vision for the group, articulates a path to the goals, increases confidence in the group’s ability to achieve them, and earns trust by evidence of integrity, commitment, courage, and a demonstrated willingness to take arsenal risks for the group. Trust and commitment cannot be bought this is why these traits are invaluable, gaining trust and commitment can be a difficult process which require personal energy, self belief – a realistic evaluation of your capabilities and belief that you can achieve required goals.
Dad (2008) describes self-confidence as the key basis from which leadership grows. Most books and articles regarding leadership have focused on passion, communication, and empowerment, they’ve ignored the most basic element and in the process they have planted these other components of leadership in a bed of quicksand. At the end of the day, leadership is about having the confidence to make decisions. If someone is afraid to make and commit to decisions, all of the communication and empowerment in the world won’t make much of a difference.
For example, some of the worlds famous leaders are so averse to making commitments they will not give a straight answer without a qualifier. Every attempt to hold them to their word can be met with, “well, maybe but I’m not really sure. ” It ‘s not lack of impetus or communication that hold them back. It is the lack of confidence to commit to their decisions and goals. Empowering gives staff autonomy, encourages them to take on personally challenging demanding tasks. Encourages them to solve problems, produce innovative ideas and proposals and develop their vision and a broader vision.
Encourages a critical faculty and a broad perspective, and encourages the challenging of existing practices, assumptions and policies Developing believes others have potential to take on ever more-demanding tasks and roles, encourages them to do so. Ensures direct reports have adequate support. Develops their competencies, and invests time and effort in coaching them so they contribute effectively and develop themselves. Identifies new tasks and roles to develop others. Believes that critical feedback and challenge are important.
Being Conscientiousness Displays clear commitment to a course of action in the face of challenge and to match “words and deeds” in encouraging others to support the chosen direction. Shows personal commitment to pursuing an ethical solution to a difficult business issue or problem. Ethical Leadership, ‘Ethical’ can mean various things to various people, and in the main is ever-changing and a fluid notion. What was classed as ethical years ago may not be today. In turn what is ethical today may be seen s unethical in years to come.
For example a generation ago it was not generally considered unethical to smoke tobacco in a restaurant, or to buy produce from battery caged hen’s. Today these practices are by and large well thought out unethical. Ethical leadership encompasses the following principles of social responsibility, corporate social responsibility (CARS), sustainability, equality, ‘Firetrap’, environmental care and humanitarianism. Educational website ‘businesslike’ discusses how during the 21 SST century the need for leaders to behave ethically seems to have increased noticeably.
The feeling it has been greatly driven by global financial crisis, corporate frauds, environmental disasters, etc. , which have been deemed failures of ethical standards and not failures of skills resources, technology, strategy, or business acumen. Leaders have been judged to lack ethical consideration, which suggests the need for more ethical bias in the ways leaders are selected and developed. The crisis of poor ethical practices within corporations can threaten public trust, cause eroding within organizational cultures, create human suffering, cause unemployment, and profit losses.
These ethical issues may also cause a loss in competitive standing, erosion of the economy and standard of living. Leaders should help make a proactive change toward ensuring high ethics within the area they lead. So, what type of leaderships styles are there? And, which leadership style should is best for the job? No one style of leadership fits all situations, so it helps to have an understanding of other styles. During my research on the main leadership styles I found the most styles discussed include: Transactional leadership. Autocratic leadership. Bureaucratic leadership. Charismatic leadership.
Democratic/participative leadership. Laissez-fairer leadership. Task-oriented leadership. People/relations-oriented leadership. Servant leadership. Transformational leadership. By learning about the pros and cons of each style, you can adapt your approach to your situation. Case Study 1 Within my organization my manger who I will refer to in this assignment as Brian for confidentiality reasons has worked within various departments / sections of the company, from a mature highly skilled mature department to a very unskilled department full of green labor without a knowledge of how the business works.
During Brain’s time managing a department I will refer to as LAB I feel he took a very bureaucratic approach and ensured the team worked “by the book. ” The team was very experienced in doing the tasks designated which I feel enabled Brian to ensure they follow rules rigorously, and that the team followed procedures precisely. I feel in this situation it was an appropriate leadership style as the roles involved serious safety risks and high standards of accuracy and traceability due to strict audit process from a well known authority. Bureaucratic leadership is also useful due to the organizations required employees to do outing tasks.
It is worth me mentioning this style although effective at the time did discourage flexibility, creativity and innovation within the team. Brain’s leadership style at this time taking into consideration he did not have much product knowledge demonstrated a good ability to uphold and enforce the rules. From my experience this style did not instill the team with the confidence there leader knew how to take the organization forward if he was not knowledgeable with the current product knowledge, although he demonstrated the ability to allocate the resource effectively to meet current customer demands.
Case Study 2 It came as a surprise to me when I discovered Brian was to be promoted to a new position within a department which was still very much within its infancy. Questioned myself. How will Brian cope with this new role when to date his main leadership style has been a very bureaucratic approach? The team members had no experience of the processes or the cultures within the organization. Brian was very methodical with his approach and took the time to learn and understand the processes and procedures, staff skill base, customer requirements etc.
It was interesting to see his approach within this new role exerted the qualities of an Autocratic leadership ship style, exerting high levels of power over the team members, allowing few if no opportunity for the members of the team to make suggestions which may even improve the output. Taking into consideration the high number of unskilled labor this approach turned out to be beneficial in maintaining a steady output at a good standard while leading the team to meet customer expectations.
Although this approach did have its pit falls of increased staff turnover it was clear the approach took this into consideration as new team members integrated into the business quite effectively. So in both of my case studies it is clear Brian was able to evaluate the team and the processes before adapting his leadership style to what would be the most efficient to enabling the organization to achieve its desired goals. If Brian had not made the decision to adapt his leadership style to the differing situations it is quite possible the outcome would not have been successful.
The differing situation variables within the organization contributed to which style of leadership was chosen for example in case study 2 my opinion is Brian chose an autocratic approach due to the high level of unskilled labor, while in Case duty 1 the higher skill base influenced Brain’s decision-making in regards to taking on a more bureaucratic approach. So what is Brain’s Leadership Style? I have come to the decision after further research into leadership styles I found an interesting theory which was proposed called Situational Leadership Theory.
This theory says that the same leadership style cannot be practiced in all situations, depending upon the circumstance and environmental context the leadership style also changes. Hershey and Blanchard (1977) describes the fundamentals of the situational leadership theory is that there is no single “best” style of dervish. Effective leadership is task-relevant, and the most successful leaders are those that adapt their leadership style to the maturity of the individual or group they are attempting to lead or influence.
Effective leadership varies, not only with the person or group that is being influenced, but it also depends on the task, job or function that needs to be accomplished. To Close, it is of my opinion the only improvement to Brain’s Leadership approach would have been to take a more of a people orientated style of leadership within case study 1. If Brian was soused more on organizing, supporting and developing the team this may have encouraged some of the more knowledgeable team members to be creative and innovative producing improved processes and encouraging others to contribute in driving the organization forward.