Leadership versus Management in Organization - Coursework Example

Effective Leadership and Management Introduction The current growth in organisations and the broadening of both local and international market has made it essential for organisations to adopt the right management and leadership approaches. Leadership and management are essential component of every organization due to the critical part they play in ensuring the organization achieve its objectives and remain profitable in the face of competition and growth. However, leadership and management are two distinct approaches of controlling an organization with each losing significance without the other (Bolden, Gosling, Marturano & Dennison 2003, p.88). Leadership involves the ability of the organization top brass to do the rights things that aim at fulfilling the objective of the organization while meeting the needs of the employees and the customers. Management however involves the ability of the organization to do the right thing; a process which may go beyond the ethical roles of leadership and adopt the end justifies the means mentality. Therefore, the success of any organizational management process must seek to blend leadership with management to ensure that it succeeds and achieves the overall objectives. In this paper, the different approaches of leadership and management that are essential for the successful control of any organization will be discussed. The discussion will also provide some corporate examples to demonstrate how positive approaches have benefited the overall growth of an organization while negative approaches have affected growth. Henry Mintzberg in his book ‘managing’ interrogates any distinctions that exist between managing and leading and whether the two can be separated in actual management process. The paper will therefore evaluated the views of Mintzberg and determine the extent by which leadership and management become two distinct levels in organizational management (Bennis & Nanus 2007, p.27). Approaches to management and leadership Management theories have been developed to explain different approaches that have been employed in organisations to enhance the performance of the employees and increase the possibility of achieving the organizational goals. Classical approaches of management and leadership has been employed with varying success in various organisations from time immemorial. This was attributed to the benefits that this approach provided to the managers which enabled them to handle the customer’s demands without compromising their internal services to the employees. Under classical approach of management and leadership, the principle of coordination is employed and this creates a harmonious environment where all employees work towards the implementation of the organisation’s objectives. It also offers room for unity of action that is characterised by the respect for authority and use of disciplined approaches that applies to all employees and managers alike (Manktelow, 2012). Classical approaches to leadership and management Classical approach of management of also applies the scalar principle that highlights the hierarchy of power and delegation of responsibilities to different employees in the organization (Bolden, 2005). One of the mind-sets of the classical theory of management is the desire to increase productivity while maintaining employee satisfaction. As a result, organizational leaders who adopt this approach work towards develop a standard method of working towards organizational productivity and profitability (Buskey 2014, p.126). As a result, such managers develop an environment that enhances division of labour and equality in the treatment and handling of all employees. This theory focuses on the division of labour to enable an organization witness a smooth production process that guarantees productivity and profitability. Many organizations today have adopted the division of labour approach borrowed from the classical theory as developed by Puyol. For example, McDonald, a fast food giant in the United States and other parts of the world has perfected the art of division of labour and this has enhanced quality, efficiency and profitability. Different employees are assigned different roles based on their experiences and skills and each department is tasked with ensuring quality and effectiveness in the process. Due to this approach, the company has continued to expand and venture into new markets globally and this has contributed to its increased productivity and profitability, one of the goals of this approach (Brookmire 2014, p.28). Despite the benefits of this management approach, the emergence of new market characteristics and competition has affected its effectiveness as organization work towards developing employee and market centric approaches. The rigidity of this theory has therefore affected its effective application in different sectors of the economy today as its hampers the development of creativity and the relationship between employees. The approach also relies on the application of prior experience of most of the employees, a scenario that has been avoided by current organisations due to the focus on creativity, talent and entrepreneurial abilities of the employees. An employee today must not be one who has worked as a sales agent before but one who is capable to face the challenges of the market and adopt immediate approaches of increasing the organization’s sales. Pragmatic approaches must be incorporated into this theory for it to remain relevant for organisations that are faced with varying challenges and overall goals (Al Ariss, Cascio & Paauwe 2014, p.176). Blake/mouton’s managerial grid In 1964, Blake and Mouton developed the managerial grip which emphasised the position of behavioural modelling in the success of any organisation. This grid attempted to highlight the impact that the attitude of managers and leaders had on the overall performance and productivity of employees.in this approach, tow axis of management and leadership which involves development of concern for people and tasks are used. Different organisations have adopted the Blake and Mouton approaches and this has been attributed to varying levels of success and failures. For example in country clubs, there is much concern for the members of the club but the lack of production is clearly demonstrated. This creates a leader who is highly concerned about the customers and how best the organisation can satisfy their needs and the needs of the employees. As a result, the managerial grid approach creates an organisation that involves social interactions from various levels involving both the employees and the customers (Manktelow, 2012). Blake and Mouton however focuses on the creation of a team manager who appreciates the roles played by all employees at all levels to ensure the achievement of organisational objectives. Such a leader develops proper trusts and respects with his employees who creates a better room for communication, execution of orders and accomplishment of responsibilities. Team management improves employee performance through increased motivation, a process that results into reduced employee turnover and absenteeism and employee satisfaction. Proper team management in line with Blake and Mouton approaches have applied in different organisations with varying success (Steve, 2013). For example, Steve Jobs created an environment at Apple which enabled him to accomplish the strategic objectives of the organisation and remain competitive. As a result, the company grew tremendously and became one of the leading electronic and computer companies in the United States and beyond during and after the end of Job’s reign. One of the advantages of Blake and Mouton theory of leadership and management is the fact that it allows for the creation of room for balancing task implementation and management of the human resource. It thus allows managers to focus on the human side of the organisation to enable it adopt behaviours that can enhance employee relations and customer satisfaction. However, the managerial grid has some weaknesses that have affected its adoption in a number of organisations today. As an approach that seeks to increase efficiency in the management and leadership of organisation, the Blake-Mouton approach creates a more perfect environment that is impossible to achieve in most organisations. The approach also emphasises the need for developing greater relationship and behaviour between the management and the employees but fails to relate how this can increase productivity and performance of the employees. Team management has been strongly emphasised as the main tenet of this approaches which though applicable in a number of situations cannot be considered universal in all organisation leadership and management processes (Steve, 2013). Fiedler’s contingency model Fiedler developed a leadership and management approach that deviated from the Blake and Mouton behavioural models and instead focused on situational organisational consideration. Based on this approach, leadership adopted by an organisation is influenced by the situation at hand as opposed to the universal adoption of a given leadership style. As a result, leaders that adopt this approach tend to listen to the current concerns raised by the employees and develop approaches of mitigating them based on the actual events being witnessed (Patterson 2010, p.87). Contingency approach of leadership and management listens to the challenges, involves the employees in developing solutions, enrich the employees and seeks to adopt motivational attitude at the workplace. Fiedler thus emphasised the need for managers to adopt a situational control that involves the blending of the right leadership style with the current situational challenges. Fiedler thus postulates the hypothesis that organisations can never recruit perfect leaders but develop leaders who are responsive to different situation by developing proper answers and solutions to the present problems (Lunenburg 2007, p.151). Hersey and Blanchard also developed a situational theory which that involves four approaches to leadership which included telling, selling, participating and delegating responsibilities. Hersey highlights that situational leaders adopts approaches that are influenced by the current problems and is therefore not static in his management policies and approaches. Manager’s leadership approaches must therefore be flexible and able to adapt to different situations within the organisation. However, for this to effectively function and increase an organisation’s overall performance and productivity, it must be matched with the maturity of the subordinates (Mikoluk, 2013). Hersey and Blanchard therefore developed two behavioural approaches that define the abilities of a leader to effectively manage an organisation and improve its performance. Directive behaviour approach is one way channel communication approaches that requires leaders to spell out regulations and directives to employees. Such employees are placed under strict supervision to enable the leader determine whether the unilateral directives are implemented. On the other hand, a supportive behaviour model in this theory results into the creation of a two way communication channel that involves active listening and the provision of support to the employees. This kind of leadership behaviour encourages interaction between the low level employees and the top management of the organisation which increases the process of decision implementation (Kotterman 2006. p.15). Management and leadership cannot be separated in practise Henry Mintzberg evaluated the distinction that exists between leadership and management and this led to the development of the view that the two are inseparable elements of organisational growth. Leadership and management in an organisation are considered as two distinct and entities that are needed in equal measures to enable the organisation to achieve its objectives. However, despite the presence of quite distinct difference between the two, leadership and management cannot be separated in an organisation due to the harmonious operation of the two. Leadership is essential in the effective management an organisation and the ability to manage defines a leader. Leadership and management have distinct roles and position in the success of an organisation but are however joined at the hip. All leaders are not effective managers and all managers cannot make the best leaders but the leadership without management produces no results and management without leadership also creates room for anarchy (Sanborn, 2012). Employee engagement has been demonstrated to hold the key to success in every organization irrespective of the business they engage in. a number of literature of child education management and leadership have also demonstrated the benefits of engagement in the management of cross-professional work environment. Engagement is a process that seeks to enables employees to engage in activities they consider appropriate for the benefit of the organization. In a cross professional setting, it defines a process which allows professionals from different fields to work together while maintaining individuality of thought and action but seeking to achieve one common objective (Gosling, 2004). Organisational managers and leaders in this setup must develop positivity to the diverse experiences and training of the work force and determine the engagement levels that allows for positive coexistence and the ability to achieve the common goal. Consultants in the area of human resource management agrees that the management of talent and different professional trainings without adopting positive engagement practices creates poor values and deprives the organization of the benefits that this kind of setting would have created. The benefits of engagement in this kind of environment have been identified as the lowered need for direct supervision that creates a proper working environment. It also increases the possibility of the professionals working independently at some levels before bringing to the table their views on the issues being evaluated (Sheppard, Sarros & Santora 2013, p.268). Understanding leadership and management in an organisation requires an understanding of the relationship between a manager and a low level employee (Goeke & Antonucci 2013, p.53). Every employee brought into an organisation has specific roles assigned to him and this is achieved through empowering him to perform these tasks. Managers are however placed in a position to facilitate the accomplishment of the responsibilities of the employees through communication and decision making. The manager is tasked with the role of managing the operations of organisation by ensuring that all departments are fully operational and successful. However, he is also expected to ensure that the low level employees accomplish their responsibilities in the best possible ways despite the challenges that they may face. Supervising and overseeing the accomplishment of roles by low-level employee’s forms part of leadership for a manager as he must be able to motivate the employees to perform the task well while feeling appreciated and valued (Henry, n.d) Leadership style is the approach that an organization or an individual adopts to enhance the process of providing direction, implementing organizations programs and motivating the people in an organization. Inter-professional organization tasked with ensuring the development of children and the implementation of educative programs brings together different professionals. Managing such a diverse group of people with different knowledge, skills and personal attributes presents a number of challenges to managers, as it requires a comprehensive and consultative approach. The participation of professionals from diverse contexts creates a pool of expertise that has a vertical mode of management. Such a group of professionals can be considered as socially learned and taught in cognitive management and leadership approaches. Such organization creates a challenge in approach of leadership and management used which can produce desirable results (Gosling, 2004). Leadership seeks to ensure that change processes in an organisation are adequately managed and the results benefit the organisation and its employees. Managers on the other hand focuses in ensuring stability and normalcy in the face of the changes making it essential for an organisation to blend stability and normalcy during periods of change. To adequately adopt a new approach of production or marketing, both leadership and management must be demonstrated to ensure that all employees understand the need for the proposed changes while also establishing how the organisation will maximally benefit from the same. Leaders must therefore work towards facilitating the achievement of the vision of the employees and the organisation while management works towards the harmonisation of the organisation’s objectives. While the employees seek to develop personally and become a force in the market, the organisation must also realise profitability in its operation to achieve stability. This makes leadership and management two inseparable avenues of running an organisation as the two ends must be fulfilled in the organisation for relative understanding to exist (Bolden, 2006). Conclusion As opposed to the trend a few years ago when leaders and managers were treated as distinct and different individuals, organisations in the contemporary world have become cognisant of the fact that the two cannot actually be separated. The separation that was initially common in many organisations across the world led to the emergence of leaders who were not in touch with the realities of the organisation (Henry, n.d). This resulted into massive losses for organisations as the leaders attempted to please everybody at the expense of performance and productivity. Successful strategies of running an organisation cannot therefore be conceived in isolation which creates room for treating management and leadership differently. The two must be synchronised to create managers and leaders who not only work towards increasing productivity and the attainment of the organisation goals but also the proper treatment of all employees in the organisation (Darr 2001, p.68). When managers are detached from the leadership sensibility, the feeling to impress the customers and stakeholders takes centre stage and this result into mistreatment of the employees. Rampant firing and issuing of decrees increases and this affects the motivation and morale of the employees to deliver. This, at the end, will still affect the success, productivity and profitability of the organisation just as can be witnessed if leaders lack management abilities. Reflective journal The development of proper management structures is essential in the success of every organisation as it provides approaches that can be used to enable an organisation advance and remains competitive. Managers play an integral part in the success of any organisation as they are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the organisation performs according to the expectations of the stakeholders. However, management without proper leadership creates anarchy as managers seek to ensure that goals are achieved but leaders provide approaches and assistance to ensure that these goals are achieved. In this paper, I discussed the differences between leaders and managers and how a combination of the two increases the ability of an organisation to perform. With the detailed nature of the assignment, I took time researching on the available resources to use for the development of the paper before engaging in the writing process. References Patterson, C 2010, Management briefs: management and leadership theory made simple, London: Bookboon. Bolden, R., Gosling, J., Marturano, A & Dennison, P 2003, A review of leadership theory and competency frameworks, centre for leadership studies, university of Exeter. Darr, K 2001, Introduction to management and leadership concepts, principles and practises, Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett learning. Lunenburg, F. C. (2007). Leadership versus Management: A Key distinction—in theory and practice. In F. L. Dembowski (Ed.), Educational administration: The roles of leadership and management (pp. 142-166). Houston, TX: The NCPEA Press/Rice University. Bennis, W. G., & Nanus, B. (2007). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge. New York, NY: HarperCollins. 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Available at: https://www.udemy.com/blog/difference-between-leadership-and-management/ Sanborn, M. (February, 2012). Nine differences between managers and leaders. Available at: http://www.marksanborn.com/blog/9-differences-between-managers-and-leaders/ Read More