The Position of Management and Leadership - Assignment Example

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT al Affiliation) Q Critical Evaluation of the Similarities and Differencesof Leadership and Management Similarities One of the most apparent similarities is the fact that both the position of management and leadership require certain similar skills for instance: Proper inter-personal skills, which can also be referred as proper social skills. The success of business organizations in the contemporary society depends heavily on the social skills possessed by its leaders; leadership positions involve giving directions to its employees on how they can work towards achieving certain goals (Canali, 2008). Moreover, it may also involve interaction with clients, an act that requires proper inter-personal skills. Similarly, management in a business oriented firm entails giving directions and controlling several entities or in some cases single entities: This requires a person with proper inter-personal skills (Canali, 2008). Another similarity occurs in the sense that both leadership and management involve undertaking certain similar roles. Just as indicated in the paragraph above, to some extent, both positions involve giving directions to organizational entities; that is, leadership positions involves directing other employees and other concerned stakeholders on the appropriate courses of actions that should be taken to achieve organizational goals (Syrett & Lammiman, 2003). In a similar manner, management involves performing duties ascribed to controlling as well as directing entities on how they should undertake activities to facilitate achievement of predetermined goals. Moreover, both managers and leaders are usually involved in making fundamental decisions in current business environment (Raelin, 2012). Differences Despite the fact that there are certain differences exhibited between managers and leadership positions. There are certain similarities exhibited among managers and leaders in SME’s, and they basically perform the same roles. However, the differences are evident regardless of whether an organization is business or non-business oriented (Murphy & Riggio, 2008). To begin with, one of the differences that have been associated with management and leadership emanate from their job description. In relation to leadership, it has been described as having the capacity to influence others through motivation, hence improving their performance through towards organizational success and effectiveness. On the other hand, management has been described as being in a position to control and direct organizational entities with an intention to coordinate and harmonize organizational activities, thus facilitating the achievement of pre-determined objectives (Raelin, 2012). Another difference between management and leadership has been based on the personality of a person regarded as a leader and that regarded as a manager. Research indicates that managers tend to be rational, usually acts as problem solvers through controlled approaches (Oestreicher, 2011). In addition, they are usually focused and determined towards achieving organizational goals through application of resources as well as pre-set objectives. In relation to the positions of a leader, they have been described as people characterized with charisma, brilliant and sociable. Leaders have been associated with possessing a high level of imagination, characterized by their comfort toward taking risks (Oestreicher, 2011). In addition, management and leadership have indicated difference in relation to the focus on each position. The position of leadership in a business or non-business oriented organization focuses on leading other people, through encouragement, motivation and guidance (Fulmer & Goldsmith, 2001). However, management involves strictly managing work; that is, controlling and directing organizational activities in order to create harmony between organizational goals and objectives (Fulmer & Goldsmith, 2001). The position of organizational management involves an approach to tasks that entails creation of strategies, formulation of policies, team development as well as ideas that are combined to facilitate effective operation (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2009). Managers usually believe that this combination reduces occurrence of organizational risks, thus facilitating success. On the other hand, the approach given to tasks in the leadership position involves perception of problems, followed by creative formulation of solutions: By applying their charisma, leaders usually motivate and encourage other staff members to work collaboratively in order to ensure the success of the organization (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2009). Research has also indicated that management entails aversion of risks through application of set organizational operational strategies i.e. objectives and resources (Mintzberg, 2004). However, the position leadership entails tremendous risk taking decisions, usually through motivation and a participatory approach towards problem solving (McCauley, Moxley & Velsor, 1998). In relation to the styles of operation applied in the management and leadership positions, the major difference occurs in the sense that: Management appears to be dictatorial in nature as it involves giving orders and direction on what should be done taking into consideration objectives of the organization (Fulmer & Goldsmith, 2001). With regard to leadership, it appears that it entails consultation and participation that involves leaders and other stakeholders (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2009). How the Differences and Similarities Affect Selection of Approaches to Identification of Development Needs of Managers at Different Stages of their Careers in Two Different Organizational Contexts The current society is characterized by existence of various contexts of organizations such as; non-profit organizations, profit-making, public as well as private organizations. The facets associated with being a manager have had a great impact on the approaches taken to identify development needs of a manager at various stages of his/her career (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2009). Taking into consideration a profit-making organization that is undertaking recruitment of managers, research has indicated that various factors are usually taken into consideration (Jackson, 2004). The first factor given a high sense of consideration is the qualities possessed by the candidate being recruited as a manager and determining if they meet organizational needs. That is, organizations usually tend to focus on whether; a candidate possesses proper-interpersonal skills; whether a candidate is focused and goal-oriented et cetera (Oestreicher, 2011). In addition, during the recruitment process, organizations tend to find out whether a candidate has the capacity to harmonize, direct and control operational processes (Oestreicher, 2011). Profit making organizations are usually guided by operational objectives through plans and budgets. This requires candidates that can offer strict directions, considering organization’s goals as well as objectives (Jackson, 2004). Majority of profit making organizations operate through a hierarchical structure with distinct job description in each position. This requires a person, who can follow the chain of command and provide direction in accordance to his job description thereby; offering strict directions and command to his/her sub-ordinate staff (Jackson, 2004). Basically, this is usually performed by taking into consideration objectives, missions as well as the values of the organization. Another factor that is associated with management that may affect the approach applied to identifying a manager’s development need is the essence of risk taking (Brownlee, 2011). The need to make profit through proper operations is based on taking risks: These risks are usually created by emergence of new methods of operations i.e. emergence of new technologies et cetera (Murphy & Riggio, 2008). However, as discussed earlier, managers operate through an approach that basically involves aversion of risks; in most cases, they avoid risks through all possibilities. In the case that a profit making organization has the desire to implement a new technology, it may be compelled to train manager on how to apply such technologies, a situation that involves exposing the managers to risks associated with new modus operandi (Brownlee, 2011). In the case of non-profit-making organization, many are usually manages or operated through non-hierarchical structure. In this regard, a manager may be exposed to training that involves proper inter-personal skills as well as training on application of participatory approaches in decision making processes (Tracey, 2008). In addition, non-profit making organizations may also have to train managers on how to be facilitative, when it comes to decision making processes, rather than being involved as in the case of profit-making, hierarchical organizations (Noe, 2008). Moreover, during recruitment, non-profit making organizations may also focus on identifying, whether a candidate possesses proper social skills: This will determine, whether the person has to be subjected to further training on such skills or not. Moreover, non-profit making organizations are usually associated with strict operations through budgets, missions, objectives as well as goals. In this regard, an organization, specifically, non-profit making organizations may be compelled to subject its managers through processes of refresher training in order to enhance their skills on how to operate through goals and objectives (Noe, 2008). Q.2. Factors that Shape the Formulation of Leadership and Management Development Policies and Strategies in Work Organization In the context of International Organizations, multi-cultural factors is one of the leading factors that shape the formulation of leadership and management development strategies as well as organizations: The essence of identifying cultural needs are crucial for these organizations to determine whether they are in a position meet cultural diversities that exits among its stakeholders (Russell, 2005). In this regard, International Organizational managers and leaders should be equipped with proper knowledge and skills on how they can handle International Cultural issues. Managers can be exposed to formal appraisals in order to ensure that they do not suffer the consequences of cultural shock in the case that they have to operate in a new cultural dimension. Another factor that shapes the formulation of leadership and management development policies as well as strategies is the need for organizational change. Organizational changes are usually ascribed to various alteration with regard to the modus operandi of the concerned organization, be it Internal or SME’s. These changes in most cases require certain human resources improvement i.e. refresher training courses on how to handle the specific changes made. The process of equipping managers and leaders with skills and knowledge on how to handle these changes is imperative in organizations that are driven to meet specific goals (Noe, 2008). Additionally, results from assessment of cultural landscapes are another factor that shapes the formulation of strategies and policies used to develop leadership and management. The assessment of operational landscapes is imperative for organizations as it facilitate the identification of gaps for changes et cetera (Brownlee, 2011). External economic factors play a key role in determining organizational success; however, in order to ensure that a company properly predicts external economic leaders and managers must possess appropriate knowledge concerning these factors (Murphy & Riggio, 2008). In this regard, International organizations take cultural operational landscape into consideration when formulating leadership and management development policies. Consequently, competition among various profit oriented International and SME’s is another factor that shape the formulations of leadership and management development strategies (Goldman, 2010). In as much as the formulation of leadership and management development policies may increase the operational costs of any organization, increased competition among both SME’s and International Organizations may compel these organizations to formulate and implement better leadership and management development strategies. The process of formulating leadership and management development policies may also be influenced by the stage of an organization’s growth for instance: in SME’s leaders and managers may be faced by challenges ascribed to have the adequate capacity to handle compartmentalization ascribed to SME organization. That is, leaders and managers in SME’s may find themselves shifting rapidly and frequently from high level operational strategy to facets of operational minutiae within a very limited amount of time. On the other hand, the time that is usually spent on operational minutiae is usually less, thus it requires SME leaders and manager to apply a great sense of discipline in regard to time management and allocation. However, efficient handling of operational minutiae can only be achieved when the leaders and managers are subjected to orientation and training on time management issues, a process that has to include in LMD policies and strategies. In the typical business environment, SME’s may see a need to change their management and operational strategies when the number of their personnel increases to over 200; this make create sophistication on the infrastructures used to support business operations, especially when a business relies on its initial operational strategies. Different requirements tend to emerge as a business expands i.e. when an SME expands and becomes a corporate for instance through size or level of operation, the organization may be compelled to hire middle-level leaders or even managers to run the minutiae and strategies. In this regard, they are usually compelled to ensure that policies stipulating how leaders and managers are developed in the case that a business changes the dimension of its operations are mainstreamed within their constitutions. The process of recruiting leaders and managers in an SME is arguable more complex as compared to Large Corporate; however, research indicates that financial resources that are used in recruitment processes in SME are usually lower as compared to Large corporate. This is an imperative issue that has to be taken into consideration when formulating policies and strategies for leadership and management development. That is, the leadership and management development policies and strategies must highlight how these issues will be handled and the associated costs. Succession planning is another factor that may influence the way organizations whether SME’s or large corporate formulate their LMD policies and strategies. Under normal circumstances, organizations usually have laid down plans on how to handle issues ascribed to succession. These plans may be used to determine how LMD policies are formulate in the sense that leaders and managers may not possess certain skills required to fulfill the duties of a new position, thus policies on LMD laid on their plans can be used to address such scenarios. Q.3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Methods of Leadership and Management Development There are various methods of undertaking leadership and development processes. These methods have been studied and debated overtime by different scholars, who have associated them with certain benefits as well as challenges (Tracey, 2008). Training and Development Relationships are the most applied modes of leadership development in the contemporary business and non-business world (Tracey, 2008). Training There are various modes of training that can be applied by organizations for instance: In-house training, reading documented materials, e-learning, long distance learning among others. The corpus of training entails a process whereby an individual acquires skills and knowledge through guidance or teaching (Kellerman, 2009). Benefits of Training One of the most common benefits that have been associated with training is the fact that there is a sense of high performance. This is majorly as a result of the improved confidence in performance as well as job satisfaction (Kellerman, 2009). In addition, training is also beneficial to an organization due to the fact that it improves organizational image. Organization that exhibit or invest properly in training their leaders and managers, are associated with a high level of service provision hence, a high level of performance. In this regard, they tend to achieve a positive image, not only among their competitors, but also among other stakeholders (Noe, 2008). For instance, training leaders and managers that have just joined an SME is crucial owing to the fact that it gives the recruits the capacities needed to face the compartmentalization usually associated with SME’s. Training also creates an appropriate platform for managers and leaders to undertake innovations and research. When leaders and managers are trained on some pertinent issues regarding the operations of their concerned organizations, they acquire appropriate and adequate skills that can assist them in creating new operations ideas (Jackson, 2004). Disadvantages of Training as Means of Leadership and Management Development One of the major potential disadvantages of training is the high cost that is associated with it. Internal and external training processes entail paying an expert to facilitate the training. However, in the case that the managers and leaders have to be sent to training seminars, there would also be associated costs, which could be high for an organization (Mintzberg, 2004). Another challenge associated with training as a means of leadership and management development is qualification. The fact that an organization has leaders and managers with appropriate capacities to undertake their tasks does not mean that they can effectively train other staff to be effective leaders and managers; training requires proper skills and abilities that are not possessed by everyone (Kellerman, 2009). Time constraint is also another potential challenge associated with training. Many organizations usually allocate limited amounts of time towards activities that involve training; this means that leaders and managers could undergo inadequate training, hence limiting their knowledge on organizational issues (Noe, 2008). Another major disadvantage of training as a means of leadership and management development is associated with having control over the training process. In the case that an organization assigns the duty of training its some of its employees on the duties of management and leadership to an incompetent person, it means that there are chances that the new managers and leaders could acquire undesirable skills (Bolt, 2007). Developmental Relationship as a means of Leadership and Management Development The concept of development relationship basically entail giving skills and knowledge through a process that involve reciprocal interactions usually characterized by emotional attachments, continuous and relatively high complex patterns of activities undertaken in a participatory approach and results that indicate a shift of power and skills from the developed person towards the person being developed (Barner, 2011). There are various modes of undertaking developmental relationships for instance: Mentoring, coaching, learning buddies et cetera. Benefits of Developmental Relationships One of the benefits of developmental relationship as a means of leadership development is that it leads to the development of professional relationships. This is not only important for the organization, but also for individual development (Gold, 2010). In addition, developmental relationships have been associated with benefits that assist i.e. mentors and coaches as it creates a platform for such persons to have a reflection of their own pieces and practices. In relation to costs associated with developmental relationships, researchers have claimed that this method seems more affordable as compared to training. The process of mentoring or coaching, in most cases does not involve remuneration of the mentors or the coaches, but are rather undertaken on a voluntary basis between the parties involved. Issues of time constraint are also reduced in developmental relationship as a means of leadership and management development. In many cases, this process does not involve allocation of special time for effective undertaking, but are mainstreamed within the on-going organizational activities, with the learners acquiring skills. Disadvantages of Developmental Relationship as a means of Leadership and Management Development One of the disadvantages of developmental relationship i.e. between a mentor and a mentee is that there may be cases of a mismatched pair (Goldman, 2010). That is, the relationship is usually forced in order to meet the needs of an organization; in this case, the mentor may not undertake his role properly added the fact that he/she has to perform other duties. Moreover, there have been cases of frustration among the persons in charge of developing leadership and management skills (Russell, 2005). This majorly occurs when such a person feels that the person undergoing training is not developing at an appropriate speed i.e. poor acquisition of skills. On the other hand, the person undergoing development may also feel frustrated, when they feel they are not getting enough from their colleagues. Challenges Associated with Securing Necessary Support and Resources for Implementing Training Conflicting ideas is one of the challenges that may be faced as an organizations strives to seek necessary resource and support for training (Rattiner, 2005). This is majorly due to the fact that organizations are characterized by professionals from various disciplines, who in most cases may not have a universal support for training as a means leadership and management development. This issue may be common among most SME’s characterized by horizontal forms of leadership and management, where decisions. That is, different individuals may different ideas concerning how an organization should support its leadership and management structures. Owing to the fact that organizations usually operate through strict plans and budgets, there may be issues of time constraint. That is, the organization may not have adequate time for undertaking training processes, especially those that occur between organizations processes. In this regard, the idea of training may be rejected by some quarter of the organization (Russell, 2005). Development of leadership and managerial positions in International organization through training may also be characterized by challenges associated with strict operational budgets as compared to the budget that needed for leadership and management development in SME’s. However, the process of training leaders in SME’s may be quite complex owing to the challenges that emerge due to the detailed operational strategies that require managers to move from operational minutiae to another. Lack of clarity in relation to the needs of the training may also create challenges when making efforts to secure necessary resources and support for training. When an organization does not stipulate clear needs of the training process, the persons in charge of training may experience challenges i.e. improper identification of qualified persons to undertake training etc (Tobin & Penttingell, 2008). Bibliography Barner, R. (2011). Accelerating your development as a leader a guide for leaders and their managers. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Bolt, J. F. (2007). Leadership development. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Brownlee, A. T. (2011). Training as a Management Development. Ottawa, Ont.: International Development Research Centre. Canali, C. (2008). 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