Leadership and Management Styles and Approaches in the Aviation Industry - Literature review Example

Leadership and Management Styles and Approaches in the Aviation Industry The concepts management and leadership differ greatly in terms of organising people, but the two are necessarily linked. They both entail setting what needs to be acted upon, mobilize individuals to achieve a certain goal, and lastly ensure that individuals perform their duties are required (Kotter 2008, p.5). More so, both management and leadership deal with people (Gilbert 2012, p.34). However, Adeniyi (2010, p.19) posits that, “leadership is not management claiming that management is all about doing things right whereas leadership is doing the right things”. Leadership is all about setting a direction for individuals to follow, but management directs individuals based on established principles or values. Leadership is being capable of influencing, motivating and encouraging individuals to significantly contribute towards the achievement of organizational goals. It is an essential factor that binds individuals together and motivates them towards the achievement of goals in a given situation. Leadership can also be refers to as the capacity to influence individuals towards the realization of established goals. Usually, leaders are expected to create visions and motivate subordinates to achieve these visions. On the other hand, management deals with directing and controlling individuals so as to achieve a certain goal. It refers to the process through which organizational goals are achieved via a co-ordinated performance of essential managerial functions including planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling (Bertocci 2009, p.9). Management standards include providing direction, facilitating change, meeting customer needs, achieving change, and working with people among others (Armstrong and Stephens 2005, p.7). Leadership entails convincing individuals to understand and believe in any creased vision and influence them to contribute positively towards the achievement of goals whereas managing involves administering and ensuring that daily activities take place as planned. Leaders have individuals following them whereas managers have individuals working for them and this is the main difference between the two. As management focuses on achieving goals by obtaining and properly using resources available, leadership is concerned with the most essential resource which is individuals (Armstrong and Stephens 2005, p.5). While the main focus of leadership is leading people, management is concerned with managing individuals and work. Generally, leaders tend to be brilliant and charismatic, like taking risks, visionary and creative among others. They use non-coercive form of influence to make individuals achieve certain goals (Bertocci 2009, p.7). On the contrary, managers are rational, problem solvers, and in most cases, they focus on organizational goals, structures, personnel as well as the availability of resources. In most cases, managers make use of formal and rational method when organizing people while leaders use passion and stirs emotions when dealing with their subordinates. Managers have to deal with complex issues in an organization like setting standards for development, developing action plans, and effectively using available resource (Klein 2007, p.2). More so, the effectiveness of leaders is determined by the accomplishment of goals while managers’ effectiveness is determined by results like profit margins (Bertocci 2009, p.9). In addition, leaders and managers approach to tasks greatly differ, that is, leaders look at the problem and come up with creative solutions. Their charisma and dedications helps them to motivate employees to do their best and also to effectively solve any problem arising. In contrast, managers establish strategies to form teams and combine ideas to come up with appropriate solution to any problem. They encourage their subordinates to share their views so as to reduce inherent risk and promote success. Accordingly, they both have different approaches to risk in that as leaders are risk takers, managers are risk averse. Moreover, leaders are the facilitators when decisions are made while managers are involved themselves in this process. Further, leaders acquire power through charisma and influencing others while the power of managers is based on authority and position. Basically, what needs to be done in managing is planning and budgeting whereas leadership mainly involves setting a direction. More so, while managing deals with organizing and staffing to help in achieving organizational goals, leading is all about aligning individuals in a more effective manner in order to achieve the goals of the organization. In addition, to ensure that individuals successfully perform their duties, managers control and solve problems arising in the course of job performance whereas leaders motivate and inspire people to do their best and increase their productivity (Kotter 2008, p.4-5). Arguably, impact and inspiration are what separate leaders from managers not power and control. There various management and leadership styles including transformational, consultative participative, authoritative, transactional, and autocratic among others. To begin with, transformational leadership is a popular form of leadership that is found at all levels of the organization. Transformational leadership is where leaders and subordinates assist each other to reach a higher level of morale and motivation, as these leaders seek to transform and change their subordinates. This type of leadership it is recognized for enhancing motivation and performance of both leaders and workers in an organization. Transformational leaders motivate their subordinates and enhance their productivity through communication since they depend on high levels of communication to meet their goals. These leaders pay attention to the needs and interest of their leaders and also to their personal development (Bass and Riggio 2005, p.4). In this type of leadership, there is need to involve the management so as to achieve organizational goals. Transformational leaders have a charismatic appeal and they are inspiring, visionary, and risk takers among valuable qualities. More so, these leaders set goals and incentives so as to motivate their subordinates to increase their performance and productivity since their main aim is to change and transform employees, and motivate them through their idealized influence. Transformational leadership focuses on the leader’s personality, attributes and ability to bring change by setting a good example and respecting other people’s opinion. Furthermore, transformational leadership focuses on changing the business culture. In addition, transformational leadership differ with other types of leadership in that, it mainly focuses on team building, motivation and collaboration with the followers so as to ensure change. These leaders are idealized since they work in order to benefit the whole team or organization. Transformational leadership have many positive impacts on the organization including increasing organizational performance, and enhancing employee satisfaction with bother their job and leader. More so, this form of leadership helps in reducing employee stress and promotes their wellbeing and this in turn generates higher commitment to the organization. Secondly, transactional leadership involves setting clear goals for the followers and also includes the use of rewards or punishments to ensure that followers comply with goals. Transactional leaders employ disciplinary power and incentives to motivate employees to perform and deliver the best. In transactional leadership, there is clarity of goals and roles and everyone is expected to effectively perform tasks assigned to them. In addition, transactional leadership is based on a ‘give and take’ relationship. Transactional leadership tends to maintain the normal operations of a given business. Transactional leaders concentrate on managing and supervising their subordinates to work on group performance. Transactional leadership seeks to maintain the existing norms and structure of the organization and tend to shape their work in line with organizational culture. Both positive and negative transactions are the main tools used by transactional leaders since they promote success by give out rewards such as bonuses or praise and punishments like suspensions when the performance quality reduces. More so, these leaders are effective when it comes to dealing with crisis in an organization. Some of the common assumptions of transactional theory include the workers gets motivated through reward and punishment; subordinates need to obey the orders of their superiors; and that employees are closely monitored and controlled to ensure that they perform the duties assigned to them. Transactional leaders create tasks to perform and reward or punish subordinates based on their performance. In this type of leadership, managers set goals together and subordinates agree to follow the direction and their leaders in order to achieve these goals. In the end, these subordinates are given rewards if they accomplish goals. The autocratic leadership style allows leaders to make decisions independently without consulting others. Always, an autocratic leader focuses on the tasks and decides alone without involving the subordinates. Normally, the decisions of autocratic leaders are not supposed to be challenged by anyone. More so, autocratic leadership restricts communication to top-down channels and these leaders create social distance between them and their subordinates (Sadler 2003, p.74). This type of leadership is not supported by many especially in organizations where there are creative employees; however, it is important where the employees need close supervision. Participative leadership is also called democratic leadership and it values and encourages the input of others including the views of subordinates. However, making the final decision is the responsibility of a democratic leader. A democratic leader is a team leader who focuses on individuals and engages people in the decision making process and other activities. This type of leadership promotes the morale of subordinates since it allows employees to make significant contribution to the decision making process. This is because it their contribution makes them feels that their opinion matters. More so, democratic leadership style enables employees to be flexible and accept any changes in the organization because they take part in the management process. Many organizations like to use this form of leadership because it effective when it comes to making effective decisions and good management in the organization. Another praised form of leadership is charismatic leadership. In this leadership style, the leader is the center of focus and in most cases these leaders hold and display a strong self image. More so, they are admired by their followers who are often pressed with the leadership tactics of their leader. Furthermore, servant leadership is also common in some organizations. Servant leaders are perceived by many to be effective because they are more concerned with the needs of their followers. That is, they are devoted to serving the interests of the organizational members. They develop and encourage their followers to do their best and they also facilitate personal growth in those they are leading. In consultative leadership style, employees participate in the decision making process but their level of influence is limited (Lumpe, 2008, p.20). There are numerous personal and professional qualities necessary for management and leadership within aviation industry. Generally, management and leaderships skills is necessary in any operating organization because they assist in setting goals, delegating duties and motivating individuals to be top performers towards the achievement of organizational goals. More so, both leaders and managers need to have appropriate communication skills to help them share their views in a more understandable manner, and clearly present organizational goals and in a more convincing manner. Managers who are good communicators are able to build rapport and gain trust and this will enable them carry out their duties effectively. a good manager knows how to listen to other people’s needs and communicate in a manner in which individuals can easily comprehend (Pillai 2011, p.18). Corporate aviation manager is well equipped with technical and human skill. Technical skills involve properly understanding methods and procedures involved in a given activity whereas human skill refers to individuals’ ability to perform as a team member and create a leading team (Castro 2011, p.45). In aviation industry, managers or leaders need to be critical thinkers especially when making decisions. Additionally, a good manager should lead by example. They need to set a good example which their subordinates can follow and increase their performance and productivity. Again, these managers need to be committed as this the key to achievement of the organizational goals and objectives (Maxwell 2007, p.2). Management in aviation also involves creating detailed plans; collecting necessary information about work performance; analysing the information and taking correcting measures (King, 1986, p.75). Another quality is adaptability, that is, an effective manager or leader need to be capable of adapting or adjusting to unexpected situations and lead his team members to also easily adapt to these new situations. This also involves thinking creatively and coming up with possible solution to a given problem. More so, effective managers need to build personal relationships with their team members. This way, they will be able to gain trust from their subordinates. Also when there is a positive relationship between managers and employees, employees will feel valued and thy will be more willing to put more effort to get the work done the right way. They will work hard to ensure that they increase their productivity and ensure that the organizational goals are achieved. Moreover, the best managers should be capable of developing themselves and others. For instance, an effective manager should be aware of their personal development and develop and lead others to realize their potential. Developing employees entails cultivating their talents and encouraging them to shape their talents towards productivity. Another important quality needed in management and leadership within aviation industry is charisma. Charisma is the ability of an individual to quickly gain the attention, respect and trust of others especially their followers. This quality is very important and it is an effective tool for many leaders to deal with people in different situations. More so, leadership and management in aviation industry need sensitivity. The managers in this field need to be sensitive to other individuals’ needs and meet the expectations of those that they are serving. Having genuine interest in the customers’ interests will help them develop a sense of trust and therefore being effective in their operations. In addition, aviation managers need to be honest and trustworthy. This is important because individuals only believe and follow a leader who they can trust. Openness and honesty are crucial qualities that many people appreciate. Optimism is also another important quality of any aviation manager because it is believed that optimism breeds opportunity. Being optimistic will increases their effectiveness and performance because they will be more focused on achieving organizational goals and meeting individuals’ expectations. Moreover, leadership and management in aviation require giving praise and complements where necessary. Every employee likes to be recognized and praised especially if they work hard towards the accomplishment of organizational goals. Recognition and complements will also increase the level of completion in the organization hence increased performance and productivity. Aviation managers also need to be practical and realistic in when performing their duties. They have to practical when making decisions and also during the consideration of other people’s views. More so, they have to be realistic when setting goals and time need to achieve these goals. All mangers are expected to perform all the management functions; however, some argue that not all do that (Dizes 2004, p.23). In conclusion, leadership and management are two different concepts but they both play a significant role in organization and deals with people. Leadership refers to the ability of an individual to influence and motivate others towards the achievement of the established goals. On the contrary, management is all about directing individuals to accomplish organizational goals. It involves the execution of the essential managerial functions in an organization. More so, management involves controlling and working with people to achieve change whereas leadership is all about aligning people and getting them do what is expected from them. As mentioned above, some of the common leadership styles include transformational, transactional, autocratic, charismatic, and democratic among others. Within the aviation industry, effective management and leadership is necessarily in order to achieve various goals and meet individuals’ needs including customers’ expectations. References Adeniyi, M.A. 2010, Effective Leadership Management: An Integration of Styles, Skills and Character for Todays CEOs, AuthorHouse. Armstrong, M., & Stephens, T. 2005, A handbook of management and leadership: a guide to managing for results, London [u.a.], Kogan Page. Bass, B. M., and Riggio, R.E. 2005, Transformational Leadership, Psychology Press. Bertocci, D. I. 2009, Leadership In Organizations There Is A Difference Between Leaders And Managers, Lanham, Md, University Press of America. Castro, R. 2011, Corporate aviation management, Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press. Dizes, I. K. 2004, Management/Mismanagement Styles: how to identify a style and what to do about it, Santa Barbara, Calif, Adizes Institute. Gilbert, K., 2012, Transformational Leadership, Xulon Press. King, F. H. 1986, Aviation maintenance management, Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press. Klein, A., 2007, Management and Leadership, GRIN Verlag. Kotter, J.P. 2008, Force For Change: How Leadership Differs from Management, Simon and Schuster. Lumpe, M.-P. 2008, Leadership and organization in the aviation industry, Aldershot, England, Ashgate. Maxwell, J. C. 2007,  The 21 indispensable qualities of a leader becoming the person others will want to follow, Nashville, Tenn, T. Nelson. Pillai, K. 2011, Essence of a manager. Berlin, Springer. Sadler, P. 2003, Leadership, London, Kogan Page Ltd.   Read More