Leadership and Professional Management - Coursework Example

Leadership and Professional Management Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Introduction Leadership is an integral component to the success of modern organizations as they strive to sustain their competitive advantage, to enhance performance and productivity, to effectively and efficiently meet the needs, demands and expectations of their customers and ensure profitability and effective interrelationships between their internal and external environments. Gallos (2008, p. 2) describes leadership as a continuous process of developing and sustaining effective relationships between those who aspire to lead with those willing to follow. According to Northouse (2009, p. 11), leadership is multidimensional in knowledge and orientation where leaders understand people and organizations, responsibilities and processes and understand themselves and others. Gallos (2008, p. 2) suggests that effective leaders motivate and inspire and they know how to bring out the best of who they are and the best in others and help the firm grow and develop. Different leaders have different styles of leadership and an effective leader is able to switch between the leadership styles based on the situation regardless of the fact they may prefer a particular style of leadership since there is no one best leadership style that fits all situations as supported by Brown& Ruhl (2003, p. 50). This forms the background of this report which seeks to analyze two leadership scenarios which will help assess differences in leadership styles, leadership situations, leadership approaches and evaluate the role of stakeholders and the nature and performance of organizations. Leadership scenarios Leadership situation 1 Mr. Miguel is a 58 year old male who has worked as a permanent employee at a manufacturing company in Sidney, Australia. Due to his long twenty three year service to the company, his broad work related experience, good performance record and professional qualifications, the Company’s human resource manager, Mr. Brown identified Mr. Miguel’s good service history and approached the board of directors and proposed a promotion for Mr. Miguel as the production manager in the production department he has been working at since his employment, which the board of governors agreed. Six months down the line, Mr. Brown noticed that Mr. Miguel was no longer enthusiastic about his job; he was depressed and often showed signs of diminishing commitment to work. Mr. Brown felt concerned and approached him to find out what was wrong. According to Mr. Miguel, as a production manager he felt he was not able to keep up with younger workers who were knowledgeable to the new computerized production systems that had been in use immediately he took charge of the department. In addition, he felt like he did not fit in since he was the only manager with Hispanic origin working in the firm and in the department respectively. Mr. Brown was concerned and he approached the board of governors and proposed a training program to help all employees and managers to understand how best to tap into opportunities of working in a multicultural environment and equipping all workers with basic IT skills to help them adapt to their roles while using new technological systems within the company. The board of governors saw the value of the training program and integrated it as a regular process within the firm where all workers had to attend a mandatory two weeks training course semi annually. Leadership situation 2 Miss Lisa Courtney is a thirty three year old mother of four year old twins who has been working as a hostess in a local five star restaurant in London. She has been in her present job position since her employment into the company eight years ago. She has been working hard and has helped the restaurant in achieving set financial and operational performance goals. About two months ago, Lisa was served with divorce papers from her husband of six years and things have been particularly hard for her as she tries to balance and multi tasks as a career woman and as a single mother of twins. Lisa has not been able to give as much attention and dedication to her work as she normally does and she has received a warning from her manager, Mr. Jefferson, about her recent work performance. Although Lisa has tried to tell the manager her situation, the manager has been more concerned with the effect her non-performance has on the restaurant in terms of productivity. Two days to the end of the month, the manager called her and explained to her that the restaurant could not afford to keep her owing to her recent non-performance at work. The manager handed her two months pay and all arrears and benefits owed to her. Analysis As descried by Martin (2006, p. 45), styles of leaderships are the ways and means in which leaders communicate and apply their influence and are determined by elements which are influenced significantly by the personality of the individual. There are different leadership styles which include transformational leadership style where the leader concentrates on developing a new and shared vision of the future, they seek to challenge the status quo and help the followers to effectively adapt to changes, situational leadership style where the leader switches between leadership styles depending on the needs of the employee/ follower and the present circumstance and transactional leadership style where the leader concentrates on business operations of the firm, they maintain the status quo and they expect the employee to live to set expectations without fail (Martin, 2006, p. 46). According to Brown& Ruhl (2003, p. 50), there are types of styles of leadership which includes autocratic leadership where the leader tells the followers what to do and expects it to be done without questions being asked, democratic leadership where the leader is allows varied perspectives in making decisions and laissez- faire leadership where the leader is hands-off and unengaged and offers the followers a substantial mount of freedom to do their own work with minimal control. As suggested by trait theory leaders have particular traits which are accountable for their leadership proficiency. Nevertheless, functional theory of leadership indicates that leadership proficiencies can be taught and learnt which means that a leader can learn leadership skills and effectively apply them based on the needs of the subordinates and situations (Brown& Ruhl, 2003, p. 49). Based on the two leadership scenarios highlighted above, there are two distinct styles of leadership that are evident between the two managers. Mr. Brown’s actions and way of doing things indicates he is using transformational leadership style and he is a democratic leader while the narrow mindedness and the focus on the business shown by Mr. Jefferson illustrates he is practicing the transactional leadership and he is an autocratic leader. Important to mention is that, there is no right or wrong style of leadership only that they are mostly effective and productive when applied in the right situation. This is because, varied times and circumstances need a style of leadership which is more process directed or more product directed as echoed by Martin (2006, p. 45). The style of leadership one opts to use relies on the leader’s orientation to the task and relationship as highlighted by Brown& Ruhl (2003, p.51). Both Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Brown express their style of leadership based on two elements which are suggested by the contingency leadership theory which are individual response to task orientation and relationship orientation. For Mr. Jefferson, he is more task oriented as he seems more focused on the job and the effect Lisa’s situation poses to the business while Mr. Brown is more focused on the people, that is, Mr. Miguel, as a member of the working team. According to Brown& Ruhl (2003, p. 50), understanding what style of leadership one uses is vital in helping the employee adapt their behavior to work more sufficiently with specific leadership style or styles exercised by the same leader in varied situations. Democratic leaders allow consultations during critical business processes such as decision making processes. As earlier indicated, democratic leadership allows participation and engagement from varied stakeholders which generates essential gains to the company such as enhanced experience, information and knowledge sharing which acts as fertile ground for creativity and innovation which is crucial in enhancing an firm’s competitive advantage. Democratic or participative leadership is suitable in improving the morale of employees/ followers and helps the labor force feel valued and thus, take ownership of the organization and its ideas which helps in attaining set organizational goals and objectives as discussed by Brown& Ruhl (2003, p. 49). This style of leadership is fundamental in improving cooperation and communication along and across organizational structures, enhancing employee identification and adoption of decisions and generating better decisions. Democratic leaders are best suited with transformational style of leadership since they are able to incorporate the needs and goals of the employee with the needs and goals of the organization and ensure all of them are effectively satisfied and attained as supported by Martin (2006, p. 47). Through transformational leadership, leaders are able to enhance team building and a collaborative environment where every stakeholder has a role to play in enhancing performance and helping adapt to emerging organizational and environmental changes (Martin, 2006, p. 47). The author asserts that transformational leaders are capable of leading the team from what is, to what is describable and eventually to what should be and they generate leadership behaviors that satisfy four major roles which includes developing visions and mission, generating trust and instilling pride, generating motivation that communicates enhanced expectations, stimulating intelligence and offering individualized consideration (Martin, 2006, p. 47). As a democratic leader exercising transformational leadership, Mr. Brown not only recognizes the hard work, performance and commitment of his employees but also appreciates them by giving them job promotions based on merit. In addition, he is careful and keen enough to recognize a change in his employees and he takes the time to identify and understand the needs of his employees in order to ensure they are continuously motivated, committed and they are able to exploit their best potential. Mr. Brown is willing to challenge the status quo by proposing new things such as the training program to the board of directors in order to help the employees achieve optimum work potential and at the same time help the company retain valuable employees and attain set organizational and business goals and outcomes. He recognizes training needs and effectively identifies suitable ways of meeting these needs. For instance, he sees the need to equip all workers with IT skills in the company which are crucial in enhancing production capacity and quality of products and services produced. At the same time sees the need to equip the multicultural work environment with knowledge on how employees can effectively interact and perform with people from different cultural backgrounds and ideals that are different from their own and therefore, learn to embrace the differences and capitalize on opportunities and experience brought in by diversity. A notable approach which Mr. Brown consistently exhibits in making decisions and solving problems is the use of consultative approach. He not only consults with Mr. Miguel about his problems but he consistently consults the board of governors in making decisions that are integral to the company. This ensures that all the stakeholders are actively engaged in the process and in the implementation of the solutions developed and in turn, each one of them feel valuable to the organization. With the management on board about the solutions suggested by Mr. Brown, he can be assured adequate support and resources will be allocated which will ensure his solutions are sustainably productive in the short and long run for both the employee and the organization. As a democratic leader, Mr. Brown is able to help Mr. Miguel attain his professional and personal goals by eradicating challenges that hinder Mr. Miguel from gaining success and contributing effective solutions to meeting all the identified needs. Autocratic type of leadership is illustrated by leaders who make all the critical decisions affecting the organization and the labor force without giving any time or space for reference and are more concerned in tasks getting done and rules and policies being followed as established with no chance of altering them. Autocratic leaders are effective in attaining deadlines and challenging employees to be the best they can be in order to attain desirable outcomes for both themselves and the company. This type of leader is often issuing directions and has clearly defined ways of doing things and has clearly established expectations for their subordinates which the subordinates are expected to attain without fail (Brown& Ruhl, 2003, p.49). Brown& Ruhl further asserts that an autocratic leader develops an environment of employee dependency where the leader ensures that the status quo is maintained. They are essentially goal oriented which is effective in helping organizations meet set targets and ensure any obstacles or issues that may jeopardize attaining the set goals and objectives are effectively and efficiently eliminated and are less interested with sideshows and developing relationships which contrasts with a democratic leader. According to Martin (2006, p. 46), autocratic leaders are appropriately fitted to exercise transactional leadership since this style of leadership approaches the subordinates with the aim of exchanging one thing for another as illustrated by Mr. Jefferson who due to Lisa’s failure to equally reciprocate the outputs (salary) with inputs (labor service), he terminates her employment regardless of the personal issues she is going through or the time and she has offered the restaurant. Martin (2006, p. 47) mentions that transactional leadership applies to leaders who are task oriented, they have minimal engagement with employees and they use varied means to make the subordinates to comply such as threatening punishment and giving rewards among others. Mr. Jefferson seeks to make Lisa work harder and improve her performance by giving her initial warnings about the consequence she faces if she fails to improve which he fulfils by terminating her employment when she is unable to live to the set expectations and goals. Irrespective of the style of leadership a leader adopts and expresses, the goal is to ensure they are professional and they carry out their roles and responsibilities ethically, effectively and efficiently. Leadership and management are substantially different with leadership focusing more on behavior while management focusing on business processes and structures. Management is more connected to the output and throughput of work systems and is focused on completing activities and mastering routines while leadership is concerned with influencing and developing visions for change as indicated by Northouse (2009, p. 11). The author indicates that managers are individuals who do things right while leaders are those that do the right thing. Therefore, Mr. Brown can be perceived as more of leader and Mr. Jefferson can be seen as more of a manager that a leader since the latter is more concerned on the outputs and less on influencing relationships where he exercises a unidirectional power relationship. This is illustrated by the fact that Mr. Jefferson does little to help resolve Lisa’s personal issues which are affecting her work performance and instead he opts to cut her out when she fails to get her job done. As a leader, Mr. Brown collaborate with his employee, MR. Miguel, to create better change for the employee and the comp any and he seeks ways in which the needs of the employee are met which in turn improves the employee’s morale, commitment and loyalty to their work. It is imperative that those who aspire to lead to understand and learn how to incorporate leadership with management to ensure the aspects of tasks and relationship which are fundamental to organizational performance and productivity are adequately addressed and ensure the goals and the needs of both the human resources and the organization are accomplished and met respectively (Northouse, 2009, p. 11). Learning how to incorporate leadership with management is important because the two aspects overlap since when a manager influence employees to achieve goals they are engaged in leadership and when a leader plans, organize, staff and control they are engaged in management as discussed by Northouse (2009, p. 11). Ability to integrate the two ensures that those in charge are able to set clear goals and objectives, clearly communicate the vision to stakeholders, expects the best from the subordinates, motivates and supports each team member, recognizes and reward performance and commitment and more importantly is able to generate trust and pride among stakeholders while ensuring effective decisions are made. Regardless of the position and the status of the stakeholders, a good leader should not only acknowledge their importance to the company but should also ensure that each of them feels valued by the company. When stakeholders feel valued by the company, they are more likely to take ownership of the organizational goals and business strategies and commit and become more accountable. An effective management leader recognizes stakeholders for their role in the organization by engaging and collaborating with them in decision making and problem solving processes, developing effective interrelationships with them and ensuring all the needs and expectations of the stakeholders be it the employees, shareholders, business partners, customers, government agencies and the top management are effectively and efficiently met as echoed by Sims (2003, p. 72). Among critical roles played by stakeholders are that they are opinion leaders, they act as connectors, they are effective in offering counsel and they play the role of journalist as discussed by Lewis (2011, pg. 100). An organization that seeks to succeed in operational and financial performance and in countering competitive forces and capitalizing opportunities needs to develop an organizational culture that creates opportunities for the workforce to develop their leadership skills and developing management leaders who understand who they are, what the needs and expectations of the stakeholders are. More importantly, management leaders who are able to recognize what their leadership style is and effectively apply different leadership styles depending on the needs of the stakeholders and the present situation at the time (Northouse, 2009, p. 8). Conclusion Primarily, effective leadership provides a platform for continuous learning, visioning a suitable future for both the organization and the workforce, development of sustainable relationships among stakeholders, nurturing skills and talents, motivating, problem solving, challenging the status quo and identifying potential opportunities. There are different leadership styles and approaches as highlighted in the report. The key for effective leaders is to not only apply the right leadership style based on the needs of the subordinates and the situation but also to integrate leadership with management. Good leaders understand the role employees play and therefore they ensure they engage them, communicate with them effectively, develop good relationships with them and above all, ensure their needs and expectations are totally met. References Brown, H.H. & Ruhl, D. L. 2003. Breakthrough management for not-for-profit organizations: beyond survival in the 21st century. Sidney: Greenwood Publishing Group. Gallos, J.V. 2008. Business leadership: a Jossey-Bass reader. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Lewis, L.K. 2011. Organizational Change: Creating Change Through Strategic Communication. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Martin, B. 2006. Outdoor leadership: theory and practice. New York: Human Kinetics. Northouse, P.G. 2009. Leadership: Theory and Practice. London: SAGE. Sims, R.R. 2003. Ethics and corporate social responsibility: why giants fall. Sidney: Greenwood Publishing Group. Read More