Leading and Managing People - Essay Example

LEADING AND MANAGING PEOPLE Leadership Leadership, as applied in many disciplines and fields refers to the process involving social influence where a person can comfortably enlist the aid and support from others in accomplishing a certain task. For instance, there are people that understand a leader as someone people like following or simply one who gives direction and guidance (Sandaa 2010 36). Alternatively, leadership can also be described as the process of organizing a certain group of people in order to achieve certain agreed objectives. The process of leadership has often involved traits and theories that have been put forward by ancient and modern scholars over time. Studies of leadership put into perspectives various ways in which different issues can be approached and dealt with according to certain leadership approaches. Good leadership is often attributed to leaders that understand set objectives and works out all ways to achieve them; they understand the importance of teamwork and peoples different skills and talent endowment. On the other hand, lots of misplaced priorities and failure to achieve set objectives characterize leadership that is often questioned by people. Leaders who cannot manage people effectively in various businesses and organizations exemplify this kind leadership. Management Businesses and organizations are often described by the kind of existing management structures in the achievement of set objectives, in this case, management describes the function charged with coordination of people’s efforts towards accomplishment of goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively (Mullins 2007 45-6). In organizations, leaders who know and understand how to deal with different kinds of people direct sound management systems that achieve set objectives. It is often said that said that as far as business and organizational leadership is concerned, people are the most important resources available. The ability to work with people effectively, understanding and fulfilling their needs is the basis for any success in businesses and organizations. People Management Employees are the biggest and highly valuable assets for any organisation, the performance and attitude towards the business and organisation are crucial towards the success and failure of the organisation (Wellington 2011 24). To the manager, one of his most difficult duties is to manage his people effectively, as part of his management responsibilities, he is supposed to provide leadership, motivation, training, inspiration and moral support at all times during his life in the business or particular organisation. Alternatively, it is the duty of the manager to hire, fire, discipline and evaluate the performance of his staff, these functions seem to lie on opposite sides leaving the manager with the task of striking a proper balance of the two sides to have a winning outcome. Successful managers are those that can integrate both positive and negative aspects of their job responsibilities in order to establish a positive and productive work force that works and achieves set objectives efficiently. In business and organizations, good managers are those that get the job done under the available resources; they can meet given goals and beat deadlines while creating the most productive teams. Great managers are excellent in motivating people, learning from their previous mistakes and gaining success in what they do, at the same; they earn respect from their fellow workers. They can establish an understanding at the work place, sets timely and realistic that employees can easily meet, they easily learn how to keep people engaged at the workplace. However, it is important to understand that being a great manager requires a lot of self-awareness, one needs to understand his strengths and weaknesses, communication styles and the picture created of them by their employees. Great managers have this understanding about themselves, their respective teams and can pull talent from everyone in the workplace. Leadership and Change Management Leadership scholars on leadership and change management have conducted various kinds of research in different contexts and time horizons. Dorfman and House (2004 134) posit that there are various non-ending definitions of leadership in the light of these researches, as such, they assert that the degree of specificity in each research should be directly linked its purpose. Based on the above understanding, leadership is defined as the ability of an individual or group of individuals to influence, motivate and enable other employees to contribute positively toward the effective functioning and successful performance of the firm (Dorfman and House 2004 98). Good leadership should pay attention to changes that take place in the organisation; this is because, change is necessary for any organisation or business that needs to remain relevant in the face of changing times (Pearce & Robinson 2009 109). Leaders have to understand that different times require different strategies in order to fulfill the needs and wants of its clients; human needs are unlimited and dynamic, for this reason, leaders should guide their teams towards this understanding and manage through the change process. Change is not always desirable, for this reason, effective leaders need to employ various strategies and effective communication skills in helping employees see the need for change and works towards the new phase of organizational operations. Case Study: Banking System in Ghana The banking history in Ghana dates back to the country’s colonial times, during this time, banking history was dominated by two banks; the Barclays bank, which was also known as the Colonial and the Standard chartered Bank, which was referred to as Bank of British West Africa (Aryeetey 2008 234). The banking industry was mostly dedicated to serving the needs of colonial merchants that traded in the then Gold Coast. The financial needs of the people of Ghana and other Africans in that country were hardly met by the banks of that time; they had to depend on their abilities to keep money safe as well as on friends and relatives. The government of Ghana responded to this need by setting up national banks to respond to people’s financial needs in the late 1950s. Despite the increase in numbers of financial institutions, majority of the Ghanaians found it hard to meet their financial needs by the growing financial sector. This was due to bureaucratic and red tape procedures that were needed in getting loans and other credit facilities from these banks, in addition, the interest rates charged on such services were exorbitant, chasing away potential investors and member of the public (Menjah 2012 78). A public outcry over how the financial sector was exploiting people made the Bank of Ghana to engage and initiate some steps that were aimed at liberalizing the sector, this was done by giving licenses to several financial institutions to offer banking services at favorable terms to encourage people to work and invest. This strategy has allowed many banks to operate as universal banks, the effect being increased competition, prompting banks to employ innovative technology to roll out their products to customers. For the first time in the country’s history, banks have been made to chase after customers to convince them to open accounts and invest with them. The Emergence of Non-Bank financial Institutions The non-bank financial sector came into existence after people lost faith in the banking sector’s ability to address the needs of the people of Ghana. The government of Ghana established Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) to provide leadership and regulate non-bank financial institutions in the service to the people of Ghana and other small businesses. In Ghana, the functions of non-bank financial institutions are coordinated by PNDC, the body guides these institutions in devising banking services that are tailor made for the people and small business. There have been many success stories from business people and individuals that have met their financial needs in various ways. Many businesses have managed to grow and establish themselves as leaders in their various industries. The non-bank financial institutions in Ghana have undergone many changes that have made it important to explore the way the changes have been dealt with by leaders in businesses. In a research that was conducted about the perception of business leaders to this change, many respondents conducted believe that their leaders are future –oriented. The quality of leadership in the case of non-bank financial institutions in Ghana is of the same kind to enabler-leadership where leaders inspire their people with a vision for the future, at the same time, they consequently empower them to set and achieve team goals (Armstrong & Stephens 2008 123). In all the respondents conducted, none of them indicated that the key quality of leaders is individualistic; this presents the fact that autocratic leadership style could be prevalent in most of the leaders in the sector. The growth of the non-bank financial sector in Ghana has been attributed to sound and clear goals that have been set by leaders, this has seen the sector grow significantly since its inception, managing to provide various services that have been key to growth and development of the country’s economy. Importance of Strategic Management and Leadership The most important part of this case study is the essence of good leadership that has seen the transformation of the banking and non-bank sector in Ghana. In any business or organisation, its leader is expected to the spearhead development of the business’ vision, planning process, setting strategies and establishing an organizational culture and productive teams. In the process of doing these functions, it is the responsibility of the leader to influence his people towards a shared destination. Ineffective people leadership, it is the leader’s duty to develop a vision for the organisation and establish strategies to inspire confidence; communication is one of the important tools that are helpful in this process. The attitude created in the team depends on the way they get information about business strategies being developed in achieving set objectives, for this reason, the leader has to be careful in the way he relays his message to the management team (Ong 2011 56). Ghana’s banking sector provides a good example of how strategic leadership and effective people management can lead to achievement of organizational goals overwhelmingly. Leaders who understood the needs of people employed strategies to fulfill those needs have made the growth of the sector possible; they have managed to instill confidence in people and increased the number of domestic and foreign investors in the country. In conclusion, it is important to understand that in leading people, success requires an understanding of factors that shape behaviors and attitudes of people. There are no absolute rules to be followed in effective people management; this is because, organizations vary in terms of how they carry out their duties and objectives (Sandab 2011 134). However, business and organizational leaders should always harmonize the people and organizational needs in order to achieve the team goals and objectives. Bibliography Armstrong, M., & Stephens, T. 2008. Management and leadership: A guide to managing for results. Kogan Page, London. Aryeetey, E. 2008. The economy of Ghana: analytical perspectives on stability, growth & poverty. James Currey, London. Dorfman, P. W & House, R. J. 2004. Cultural influences on organizational leadership: Literature review, theoretical rationale. Culture, leadership and organizations: Vol 2, N0, 2. Pp, 52-73. Mullins, J. L. 2007. Management and organizational behavior. Prentice Hall, London. Pearce, A. J & Robinson, B. R. 2009. Strategic management: Formulation, implementation and control. McGraw-Hill, Singapore. Sandaa, M. A. 2010. Impact of value-based transformational leadership in privatizing government institutions in a developing economy: A case study. Business & Management Quarterly Review. Vol, 1 No. 3. pp 1-13. Sandab, M. A. 2011. Leadership and ‘tipping’ in workplace transformation: A critical review. International Journal of Business and Social Science. Vol 2, No 5. Pp 18-22. Menjah, K. 2012. Finance and development in Africa. Emerald, Bingley, U.K. Ong T, W. 2011. Results management: effective people management to achieve excellent results. John Wiley & Sons (Asia), Singapore. Wellington P. 2011. Effective people management. Kogan Page, London. Read More