Theories of Leadership and Management - Coursework Example

Theories of Leadership and Management Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Executive Summary Evidently, leadership and management are of paramount to the running of any organization. In most cases, the two terms are referred to as the same thing. However, these two terms are different in a number of aspects. Nevertheless, management and leadership are inseparable. This report has encompassed an analysis of management and leadership theories discussing the various differences and overlaps between the two aspects in order to determine in which ways leadership and management can be developed in the manufacturing organization in the United Kingdom to support an ongoing change programme focused on service excellence. The report has discussed the history of management and leadership theories, which according to studies the history of the contingency theories of leadership notions started over a hundred years ago in the mechanical idea of the scientific theory of management. Evident from the report also are the differences between management and leadership ideas. To comprehensively bring out and discuss the differences, the researcher has reviewed the literature review of scholars to explain the situational and behavioural theory. Blake/Mouton’s Managerial Grid, which is a behavioural theory, Fiedler’s Contingency Model that is a situational theory and Hersey-Blanchard Situational Theory, has been discussed. According to the report, Paul combines the Blanchard model combines the behaviour grid with the Developmental Levels of subordinates to arrive at some conclusions about appropriate leadership styles. The report has also pointed out the implications of the differences between management and leadership to managers and how they can manage them. Besides, the report gives recommendations to the manufacturing company regarding how they can use leadership and management can be developed in the manufacturing organization in the United Kingdom to support an ongoing change programme focused on service excellence. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 History of management and leadership theories 5 Differences between management and leadership ideas 6 Blake/Mouton’s Managerial Grid 6 Country club management 7 Authority-obedience management 7 Impoverished management 7 Organization management 7 Team management 8 Fiedler’s Contingency Model 8 Hersey-Blanchard Situational Theory 9 Selling 9 Telling 9 Delegating 9 Participating 9 Implications for the managers of the organization and how they can be managed 10 What companies are doing 11 Recommendations 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction Normally management and leadership are often referred to as the same thing. However, the two terms are different in a number of ways. Apparently, in all organizational and business activities, management is the act of getting people together in order to achieve desired goals and objectives effectively and efficiently. Management consists of organizing, staffing, planning, directing and controlling an organization for achieving the said objectives. Management can be defined as human action, which aids in the production of constructive results from a system. In every organization, managers are expected to carry out various roles and responsibilities in order to help the organization meet the desired goals. Leadership on the other hand is the act of influencing others to what they want to do. Leaders have no formal title. Evidently, they rely on their personal traits as well as style to make others follow them. Leadership is the act of influencing others to carry out the activities that will lead to the attainment of a goal. In addition, it is the direction as well as management of change and the creation of a mission and vision for the company. Besides, it is also the task of motivating and leading people to success as well as creating conditions that will drive people to attain goals. Evidently, leadership and management are of paramount to the running of any organization. This paper seeks to analyze the ways in which management and leadership may be developed in the manufacturing organization in the United Kingdom so as to support an ongoing change programme focused on service excellence. History of management and leadership theories According to studies, the history of the contingency theories of leadership notions started over a hundred years ago in the mechanical idea of the scientific theory of management (Wren, 2005). Years later management science realized the influence of the illogical human perception sometimes on the worker performance. As a result of this, taxonomies of leadership behaviour as well as contingency theories to help adapt leadership behaviour to the situation were adopted. Evidently, all small businesses were managed by proprietors. Nevertheless, at a number of times, there was a steward to perform the task and he acted exactly as a proprietor. Basically, management as well as business leadership came into being during the industrial revolution where much large businesses to be run by a single entrepreneur emerged. This advent brought a formal interest in the motivation of a work force, labour relations as well as efficiency in production. Research indicates that due to this reason scholars developed the scientific theory of management in 1895 (Bush, 2003). Apparently, this theory majored on the accomplishment of work tasks efficiently and with an attitude of worker smarter and not harder. This theory was meant to be a win to increase productivity for organizations and a win for the labourers by making their work a lot easier. It is apparent that the search for the traits of a leader has been underway for many centuries. The greatest philosophical writings were from the Plato’s Republic who explored the traits that distinguish a person from a leader. Clearly, this research gave rise to the acknowledgment importance of leadership as well as the assumption that leadership is in the traits that are possessed by different people. According to studies, the leadership theory was researched in depth in the 19th century. Notable from the research were the physical characteristics, talents and skills with the people who were in power. According to some scholars however, leadership was inherited. These scholars argued that leaders were born and not developed. Evidently, these arguments gave support to the idea that leadership is in the traits of a leader. For a number of years now, the trait based perspective lead theoretical and empirical works in leadership. By using the prior research techniques, experts carried out a number of studies suggesting traits that distinguished leaders from those who are not leaders. They include adaptability, integrity, dominance, intelligence, self-confidence, persistence and social economic status (Arvey et al, 2006). In the early 1950s, qualitative reviews of leadership theory enhanced experts to have a different view of leadership theories. For instance, the improvements of the use of the round robin research design methodology by researchers enabled them to recognize that persons become leaders across a variety of tasks as well as situations. In addition, they also noted that there exists a remarkable relationship between leadership and certain personal traits such as intelligence, openness to experience, consciousness and adjustment. Differences between management and leadership ideas Blake/Mouton’s Managerial Grid Managerial grid is a behavioural theory. Evidently, the theory focuses on understanding the differing attitudes of managers towards the human resources as well as other resources used within the organization (Lussier et al, 2010). Apparently, this is of paramount to any organization, as a manager ought to possess the skills deemed best to be in a position to coordinate all the resources towards achieving the goals and objectives of the organization’s project. Managerial grid hypothesizes the management styles as well as relations. To achieve this, it uses two axes, which include the concern for people and the concern for task (Lussier et al, 2010). These two axes are an important dimension, which measures management behaviour as well as its characteristics. Managerial grid has given rise to a number of management styles that are deemed significant. They include; Country club management The kind of managers found here have a low concern for production and a very high concern for people. It is evident that the kind of manager in this grid has a high consideration for the needs of people and satisfying relationships in order to ensure a comfortable working environment resulting to a friendly relationship (Bush, 2003). Occasionally, they have a number of social interactions. In addition, they put the company sports teams and service projects on top of their lists (Bush, 2003). Authority-obedience management This position is inclusive of all other managers working on other extremes. Mainly they focus on the work efficiency (Bush, 2003). These kinds of manager have a very little concern of individuals. Basically, they get their works of done with minimal degrees of human interaction. Impoverished management In this position, the managers do very little to have the employees perform the work as required as well as to sustain the membership of the organization (Bush, 2003). Generally, this kind of a manager has no concern for either individuals or the production level of the organization. According to research, such a manager has a short life within the responsible organizations. Organization management This are the kind of managers who aim at balancing the productivity level while trying to maintain the moral of people at a satisfactory level which is not excellent(Bush, 2003). Apparently, the production of the organization will be close to the set goals but not exceeding them. Team management According to some scholars, this is the ideal manager. This kind of manager develops a good working relationship of trust and respect between his employees and others (Bush, 2003). Fiedler’s Contingency Model The Contingency theory is a situational theory that indicates that effective leadership is dependent on the situation at hand (Northouse, 2007). Contingency theories necessitates that a leader interacts with his employees. Moreover, he should encourage them to develop, risk, listen, to care, enrich, and credit as well as care and show concern to those who they are managing. According to research, a leader is only effective if the personality of the individual is appropriately matched to a set of situational variables (Zaleznik, 1992). They include; The work group accepts or rejects the leader. The task is relatively routine or complex. High or low formal authority (Zaleznik, 1992) According to some scholars however, there is no ideal leader (Ivancevich et al, 2007). The scholars argue that both oriented and task oriented leaders become effective if their orientation matches the situation. Besides, they also argue that since the personality and therefore orientations are relatively stable, changing the situation is required to improve the effectiveness (Zaleznik, 1992). Hersey-Blanchard Situational Theory Hersey and Blanchard came up with a theory that bases the leadership style on the given situation (Hersey et al, 2001). This theory developed by Hersey and Blanchard entails four situational leadership styles, which include: Selling This style is of important whereby the members involved are a bit experienced and responsible and are willing to carry out a particular task but are limited since they do not have the required skills. Telling Useful when the members are new and in experienced warranting them help, encouragement and direction for them to perform,. Delegating The style is appropriate when the members involved are willing and able to be responsible of directing their own behaviour. Participating This style is supportive. It is used when the group involved has the required skills to perform the task but are unwilling to start and complete the task. According to (Hersey et al, 2001) a situational leader adapts leadership behaviours to the aspects of the situation as well as followers. Evidently, the leadership style of managers should be adaptable as well as flexible to be in a position to address the changing needs of the employees as well as the situation. Clearly, this should be made to fit into the maturity of the subordinates (Hersey et al, 2001). It is apparent that maturity is measured using two aspects which include; job maturity –which entails their relevant skills, ability to put up high goals and objectives, ability to carry responsibility, technical knowledge as well as be in a position to manage them; psychological maturity- comprising of their self-confidence, and ability and readiness to accept responsibility and be able to manage the given tasks (Hersey et al, 2001). Besides, Hersey et al (2001) argues that as the subordinate maturity increases, relationship should become more relationship motivated rather than task motivated. According to the Hersey and Blanchard leadership model indicates that the leader’s subordinates development level play a vital role in determining the leadership styles that are most appropriate. In view of this perspective, the leader behaviour fall either under the directive behaviour which entails a close monitoring of performance, spelling out of followers roles and one way communication or the supportive behaviour which consists of participatory decision making, two way communication, enhanced interaction and listening, encouragement and offering of support (Bogue, 2005). Evidently, Hersey combines the Blanchard model combines the behaviour grid with the Developmental Levels of subordinates to arrive at some conclusions about appropriate leadership styles (Hersey et al, 2001). Implications for the managers of the organization and how they can be managed It is apparent that if a manager is not in possession of leadership skills, then there is lack of leadership in a working environment of an organization (Zaleznik, 1992). Due to this reason, there arise many negative effects to both the employees and the organization at large. Studies indicate that the differences between leadership and the management ideas as well as the lack of leadership or management in an organization leads to reduced morale, motivation, productivity, employee turnover and loyalty in the organization (Zaleznik, 1992). To solve the above named problems, an organization should integrate a model that combines management and leadership and for it to be successful (Bogue, 2005). It is recommended that for a company to be successful they have to hire people with complementary skills. If the company has a natural leader, they should look for people who have management skills that are strong. Similarly is the company has strong managing skills it should hire a person with strong leadership skills (Bogue, 2005). Alternatively, a company can identify and encourage these skills in the existing employees. The company should look for a person who always has an idea of how things within the organization can be done differently rather than the status quo to become leaders. In addition, this person should be one who has the courage to challenge how the things are being done in the organization. On the other hand, a manager should be one who likes routine. It is apparent that people who are regimented in what they do are generally great at management because they are good at executing the same control processes day in and day out (Bogue, 2005). By having good management and leadership is of paramount to the success of any company. What companies are doing Apparently, the changing business environment as well as the in depth research in management and leadership has indicated the need to change our perception of what makes a good manager and leader want to want to integrate the two aspects in their companies in order to survive. The leading companies within the United Kingdom realize that being good in only one of the two aspects is a great feat in itself (Yukl, 2010). Most of these companies therefore have their chief executive as the leader of the organization and being responsible for charting a course (Yukl, 2010). The manager on the other hand is usually the chief operations officer. For the organization to be successful this two people must work together. In some companies however, they understand the fact that both management and leadership are of paramount to the success of the company and especially in the delivery of goods and services. Therefore, the good managers always strive to be good leaders also (Bogue, 2005). On the other hand, the good leaders also look for management skills in order for them to attain optimum results. Recommendations The managers of the manufacturing company should ensure that they possess both the leadership and management skills as this will give credit to the services they offer (Yukl, 2010). They should also ensure that the daily activities carried out are led and managed in an appropriate manner to produce the desired results. For the managers to be effective they need to possess the following qualities: Clarity of task as well as purpose Excellent organizational skills Ability to communicate expected results as well as tasks effectively Ability to negotiate various administrative and regulatory processes Excellent delegation skills (Yukl, 2010) The managers and leaders ought to possess the desired knowledge, skills as well understanding of the role, purpose and tasks of the services they are delivering. Fail manufacturing company should recognize that the market place with regards to all aspects including customers, staff, suppliers need to be in a position to appreciate and adapt to cultural diversity. This is due to the reason that leaders and managers who fail to culturally relate in the rightful manner as well as openly and widely inevitably condemns the entire organization to adopt the same narrow focus and bias exhibited by the leader (Whetton and Cameron, 2002). Most importantly, the manufacturing company should identify the best leadership as well as management style that are fitting them in order for them to adapt to a changing situation (Dessler, 2001). Moreover, it should not stick to only one style but is should find the most appropriate style to enable them lead as best as they can. Conclusion This report has encompassed an analysis of management and leadership theories discussing the various differences and overlaps between the two aspects in order to determine in which ways leadership and management can be developed in the manufacturing organization in the United Kingdom so as to support an ongoing change programme focused on service excellence. The report has discussed the history of management and leadership theories, which according to studies the history of the contingency theories of leadership notions started over a hundred years ago in the mechanical idea of the scientific theory of management. Evident from the report also are the differences between management and leadership ideas. To comprehensively bring out and discuss the differences, the researcher has reviewed the literature review of scholars to explain the situational and behavioural theory. Blake/Mouton’s Managerial Grid, which is a behavioural theory, Fiedler’s Contingency Model that is a situational theory and Hersey-Blanchard Situational Theory, has been discussed. According to the report, Paul combines the Blanchard model combines the behaviour grid with the Developmental Levels of subordinates to arrive at some conclusions about appropriate leadership styles. The report has also pointed out the implications of the differences between management and leadership to managers and how they can manage them. Besides, the report gives recommendations to the manufacturing company regarding how they can use leadership and management can be developed in the manufacturing organization in the United Kingdom so as to support an ongoing change programme focused on service excellence. References Arvey, R.D., Rotundo, M., Johnson, W., Zhang, Z., and McGue, M. 2006. The determinants of leadership role occupancy: Genetic and personality factors. The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 1-20. Bogue, B, L. 2005. Getting leadership and management in your organization. Accessed on January 9, 2012. http://www.techrepublic.com/article/getting-leadership-and-management-in-your-organization/5828747 Bush, T. 2003. Theories of educational leadership and management. London: Sage Publications Dessler, G. 2001. Management: Leading people into the 21st. century. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Publishers. Hersey, P., Blanchard, K., and Johnson, D.E. 2001. Management of Organizational Behavior, 8th Ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall Book Yukl, G., 2010. Leadership in Organizations, 7th Ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Book Ivancevich, J., Konopaske, R., and Matteson, M. 2007. Organizational Behavior and Management. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Lussier, R.N., and Achua, C.F. 2010. Leadership, Theory, Application, & Skill Development, 4th Ed. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Northouse, G., 2007. Leadership theory and practice, 3rd Ed. Thousand Oak, London, New Delhe, Sage Publications, Inc. Whetton, D. and Cameron, K. 2002. Developing management skills, 5th Ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Publishers. Wren, D. A. 2005. The History of Management Thought. New York: John Wiley Zaleznik, A. 1992. Managers and leaders: are they different? Boston: Harvard Business Review Read More