Leadership and Management - Literature review Example

Leadership and Management and Section # of WHAT IS MANAGEMENT? Management is the process of getting things done efficiently and effectively with and through people. Management is considered an art and a science because it is the way and the process of how one achieves its targets and goals. (Bush, 2003). The term management may have evolved recently but it existed since the time when men started learning the art of organizing, planning and strategizing during the wars. In some way, Rousseau (1972) pointed out “A real knowledge of things may be a good thing in itself, but the knowledge of men and their opinions is better, for in human society.” Management today is not just restricted to human resource but is now divided into various segments like management of finances, strategic management, operations management, time management, marketing management and crises management. (Finkelman, 2006). There are various functions of management that includes planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting. It is through these functions that complete and successful management can be done in an effective and efficient manner. (Finkelman, 2006). There are three different role of management or a manager that are interpersonal roles, informational roles and decisional roles. (Covey, 1992). Interpersonal roles includes role of a figurehead, leader and liaison. Informational manager’s role is of monitoring, disseminator and as a spokesperson. Decisional roles include entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator (Mintzberg, 1973). In general, there are two approaches to management, the industrial organization approach and the sociological approach. (Covey, 1992). Industrial organization approach deals with economic theory focusing on competitive rivalry, resource allocation and economies of scale. (Finkelman, 2006). Sociological approach deals with human interaction assuming rationality, satisfying behavior and profit sub-optimality. Thus a good management style is a mixture of efficiency and effectiveness without which the desired result can not be reached. (Bush, 2003). WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? A leader is a person who guides others toward a common goal, showing the way by example, and creating an environment in which other team members feel actively involved in the entire process. A leader is not the boss of the team but a person that is focused to carrying out the mission of the organization. (Bush, 2003). Therefore leadership is the process by which an individual influences others to achieve a common goal and creating an environment in which other team members are actively involved. A leader is not the boss but a person who is committed to carrying out the mission of the venture. (Mintzberg, 1998). Leadership is anything that can be learned, but the skills and knowledge possessed by the leader can be influenced by his or her attributes or traits such as values, beliefs, character and ethics. (Covey, 1992). Qualities of a leader include that he should be focused, good listener, organized, available, include others, decisive and confident. The process of leadership is directly affected by the knowledge and skills, while the other attributes give the leader certain characteristics that make him or her unique. (Kotter, 1990). There are four factors in leadership. (Bush, 2003). There must be a leader, followers, communication and situation. There must be a leader who is committed towards the goal and motivating the followers to do so. Followers are those who listen to you and to whom you can influence. Then there should be a two way communication for effective leadership. (Finkelman, 2006). Lastly, no one style of leadership is applicable in all the situations. Therefore you must use your judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style that should be used. (Mintzberg, 1998). DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP Leadership is setting a new direction or vision for a group that they follow meaning a leader is the spearhead for that new direction. (Finkelman, 2006). Management controls or directs people/resources in a group according to principles or values that have already been established. Leadership and management are usually used interchangeably but in reality these are two different notions. (Kotter, 1990). The difference between leadership and management is that leadership is a facet of management. (Kotter, 1990). Leadership is one of the assets that a manager must possess. The aim of the manager is to maximize the output of the organization through organizing, planning, staffing, directing and controlling. (Finkelman, 2006). Leadership is one of the important parts of the directing functions. As leadership is not always required thus it is considered an asset and is not essential. (Mintzberg, 1998). There are differences in perspectives too. (Kotter, 1990). Leaders think radically whereas managers think incrementally. (Covey, 1992). Managers follow the company policy and do things which are written whereas leaders use their intuition which may benefit the company more than the manager’s approach. Also that group often shows more loyalty towards a leader than to a manager. (Kotter, 1990). This is because the leader takes the responsibility when things go wrong, celebrating group achievements even if minor ones and he gives credit on the right time. (Mintzberg, 1998). LEADERSHIP STYLES A leader is someone who is followed naturally whereas a manager is usually obeyed due to his authority. (Kotter, 1990). Managers usually are experienced people in their field whereas leaders can be fresh people who are new to the company, have new ideas but not have experience or wisdom. (Kotter, 1996). There are different leadership styles that can be adopted by leaders, but these styles tend to vary from situation to situation and good leaders tend to change their leadership styles according to the need of the situation and circumstances that the company is and this is obviously done to achieve the desired favorable outcomes for the company. (Bush, 2003). The first leadership style is Authoritarian. (Kotter, 1990). In this style the leader usually has complete information and understands what needs to be done to overcome the situation at hand, in this leadership style the leader does not accommodate the views of its employees and sub ordinates but rather just issues orders about what needs to be done. (Mintzberg, 1998). Some people abuse this style by being rude with their employees but this is not what authoritarian style means, rather it means that the leader has a complete understanding of what needs to be done and sends a complete message about what he expects from his employees and sub ordinates. (Finkelman, 2006). The second leadership style is the Participative style of leadership. (Kotter, 1990). In this the leader has some but not all of the desired information, hence he takes his employees into confidence and the employees give their feedback as to what can be done to overcome the difficult situation. (Mintzberg, 1998).The power of decision making however lies solely with the leader only because it is his responsibility that the company or the organization achieves its desired outcomes in the most efficient and effective manner. (Kotter, 1996). However what this style of leadership does is that it motivates employees, because it makes them feel that they have some control over the decision making in the company and they put in extra effort because they know that they were part of the decision making process and they would be given the due credit for the subsequent success or failure of a project. (Bush, 2003). The leader is not expected to have all the knowledge and this is why knowledgeable employees are hired in the first place, the combination of the knowledge that the leader has and those of the employees makes it possible for the leader to come up with an optimal solution. (Covey, 1992). The third and the last style of leadership is delegative or free reign. (Kotter, 1990). In this style basically the leader trusts his workers and sub ordinates and knows that they would be able to perform the task on their own. (Mintzberg, 1998). The leader cannot perform each and every function and has to set priorities and delegate the tasks, this style is used when the workers are experienced and have the analytical skills required to understand what needs to be done and how it needs to be done to have a positive impact on the organization. (Bush, 2003). Steve Jobs the current CEO of the Apple corporation is one of the most successful entrepreneurs that the world has ever seen, he Co founded Apple and then was forced out of the company by the board of directors, but he never gave up and then joined Apple in 1997 an since then is its CEO. Those who have worked with Steve Jobs describe him as more or less Authoritative in nature because he is someone who has complete faith in himself and his abilities and his spiritual side has an impact on this as well. In late 1984 when sales for Apple dropped really low, some employees described Steven Jobs behavior as erratic to say the least. The decisions that Steve Jobs has made over the years indicate that he can be classified largely as an authoritarian leader, for example he made an offer to the Pepsi CEO in 1985 by saying, do you want to sit here and sell sugared water all your life or do you want to come with me and change the world forever? These traits have made him popular the world over and one of the most successful entrepreneurs that the world has ever seen, this has impacted his business favorably and in face of severely adverse situations he has been able to steer his company out of harms way almost single handedly at times through the policies that he has implemented over the years. The second personality is from my home country, Russia, he is currently the 50th richest man in the whole world and the 3rd richest in the whole of Russia, and he is Roman Abramovich. Abramovich has generally made his wealth from businesses in the oil sector and he is also the owner of the English football club Chelsea. Abrmovichs style can be largely categorized as that of participative because his first business that he set up was in collaboration with his wife and his wife had an active role in that business so that goes to show that he can largely be described as someone who is a participative leader, this has enabled him to take on many businesses because he has been able to garner relationships from people across many walks of life, at one time he was described as having businesses like the oil trading and personal security guards company as well. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bush, T. (2003). Theories of educational leadership and management. University of Virginia: Sage Publications. Finkelman, A. (2006). Leadership and management. Assessment Technologies Institute, LLC. Covey, S. (1992). Principle centered leadership. University of Michigan: Simon & Schuster. Kotter, J. (1990). A Force for change: how leadership differs from management. Free Press. Kotter, J. (1996). Leading change. Harvard Business School: Harvard Business Press. Mintzberg, H. (1998). HBR on leadership. Harvard Business School: Harvard Business Press. Read More