The Concept of Leadership and How It Is Perceived in Organizations - Coursework Example

Management and Leadership Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecture Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 12th March, 2012. Introduction Organizations need leaders who will enable organizations handle the volatility, ambiguity and turbulence of the present business environment (Benis 1989). However, this recognition of leadership fails to consider the important role of management in the organization. Leading and managing organizations are two different concepts of organizational management that organizations need to fully aware off. Management is concerned with the power given to managers to run the affairs of the organization (Kotter 1987). However power to run an organization does not guarantee the organizations activities will be run effectively. Both leadership and management qualities are needed to make sure organizations succeed in today’s competitive environment. There has been a particular emphasis for every manager in present organization to evolve to leaders. The lack of leaders in management is what has led to ineffective leadership in organizations (Lunenburg 2007). In the present competitive global market, ineffective leadership will mean an organization is not ready to combat the big issues facing contemporary management. Organizations need to think more and more about the future rather than manage the present to be able to survive In this paper the concept of leadership and how it is perceived in organizations is explored. The discussion on leadership centers on what the ideal leader should be in contrast to the qualities he should not posses. Secondly, it explores the concept of management in organization and distinguishes what is management and what is not management. In the next section the paper explores the role managers need to play in new age organizations. Thirdly, the paper looks at the realities of management and leadership in organizations noting that in successful organizations management and leadership is hard to distinguish. The concept of leadership seems to be absent in organizations that are ineffective as they dwell more on managing employees instead of leading them. In the fourth section the report discusses the development of management and the various methodologies used to explain how management has evolved. The aim of this paper is to show why organization should invest more in hiring and developing leaders instead of managers. Leadership According to Zaleznik (1997), both management and leadership make important contribution to an organization although the contributions are different. Leaders are involved in activities that largely challenge the status quo in an organization. Leaders encourage people to believe in themselves and show greater commitment to the organization’s mission. According to Kotter (1990) management and leadership complement each other although they are distinctly different. Kotter agrees with Zaleznik (1997) that leadership is more concerned with change in an organization. Leadership in an organization plays three distinct roles. First, leaders are in charge of the direction of an organization as they develop the organization’s vision (Lunenburg 1983). After coming up with the vision, leaders are involved in getting employees to commit to the organizations vision. Finally, leaders are motivators and through fulfilment of employees basic needs and empowerment leaders are able to inspire employees to perform better. Leaders in an organization need to possess a number of qualities otherwise they cannot be classified as leaders. First, a leader cannot lack vision, as vision is synonymous with leaders. Secondly, it is hard for leaders who lack integrity to be followed (Bennis and Nanus 2007). Thirdly, leaders do not know everything and they accept their limitation in knowledge by accepting criticism and asking for the contribution of others. Furthermore, leaders have great communication skills as communication is key in getting employees to accept their leadership. Leaders also realize it is not all about them and thus leaders are not aloof, proud or arrogant (Bennis and Nanus 2007). Leaders make decisions by consulting with as many stakeholders as possible and value the input of those who report to them. Management On the other hand management contribution in the organization is concerned with the maintenance of the status quo. Managers want to ensure the organization is stable enough to be able to carry out its activities. Complexity in the organization is the main concern of managers rather than change. According to Kotter (1990b) management process can be broadly classified into three distinct functions. These are: (a), planning and budgeting, (b), staffing and organizing, (c) control and resolution of conflicts. In this way management complements leadership by reducing the uncertainty it creates. Leaders provide direction and vision while managers implement activities that realize the vision. In contrast to leadership which is concerned with the future, management is concerned with the present status of an organization. Organizational realities From the discussion above it can be concluded that organizations need to be more leadership oriented rather than management oriented. However, in majority of organizations this is not true; most organizations are still led by managers rather than leaders. Throughout the ranks of most organizations there are more people who are willing to stick to the status quo rather than challenge it (Palmer et al 2001). One of the organizational realities that significantly challenge management oriented organization is conflict. Most scholars agree conflict will always be present in organizations and thus organizations need to know how to handle (Ferris 2000). The approach of most organizations when confronted by conflict is to try and suppress it. According to Ferris (2000), managers interpret conflict as obstructive behaviour to the realization of organizations goals while leaders interpret it as differences in the means to achieve these goals. Managers try to avoid conflict while leaders use conflict to improve an organization. One of the most detrimental management practices that are supposed to be extinct is micromanagement; however it remains a glaring reality in organizations all over the world. Klein (2007) notes that most managers are obsessed with an excessive desire to control and pay attention to very trivial details in an employees work. Where organizations have developed a culture of micromanaging their managers exhibit the following behaviour. First, the manager does not give options to an employee on what to do, when or how to do it. Secondly, all decision have to be approved by the manager and rarely is decision making authority delegated (Kotter 1990b). Employees are constantly reporting thus diverting focus from progressing in the task to reporting. Leadership at the line management level can be used to solve the micromanagement problem as leaders allow employees independence in completing the tasks they delegate to them. Organizational politics is another reality facing organizations that necessitates organization to have leaders instead of managers. The attributes of leaders noted above helps organizations effectively deal with organizational politics as the manipulative behaviour of individuals that seeks to advance their own interests at the expense of others or the organization (Zalenik 2004). The ways people relate with each other in the organization, the organizational culture, processes, employee performance all bear the influence of organizational politics. The presence of a struggle for power and leadership, conflicts, exerting tactical influence to attain power, composing self stature, hiding ones real intention and building coalition point to the presence of strong organizational politics (Lunenburg, Thompson and Pagani 2010). The role of leaders in an organization is to influence employees to voluntarily commit to achieving the organizational goal means that leaders have to confront or work against organizational politics. Leaders are the one who determine the political climate of an organization through their use of authority or influence (Kotter 2001). In guiding an organization toward the achievement of its strategic goals it is important for leaders to understand the politics of their organization. Power coalitions and centres of influence are important in overcoming road blocks to achieving the strategic goals (Yukl 2010; Rowitz 2010). By understanding organizational politics and leveraging it, a leader is able to build their own leadership credibility. Stages of Management Development Stage 1: Fear and Hesitation In this stage managers are new to the job and may possess undesirable characteristics and assumptions. First, they are reluctant to manage others and may do the work themselves instead of delegating it (Mumford and Gold 2004). Secondly, they assume that the staff can trust them just because they are managers and they are supposed to have all the answers to issues in the workplace. They judge and criticize workers harshly and set impossible standards for them. They also have no patience with long-term initiatives. An organization that wants to develop its leaders at this point should encourage it managers to try and emulate the leadership qualities of other successful leaders in the organization. Secondly, they should encourage them to be analytical and develop a holistic mental model of the organization. They should also begin to concentrate on the failure of the organization as a system instead of just small problems. Stage 2: Excitement and Enthusiasm At this stage of development manager are very excited and enthusiastic about their work (Mumford and Gold 2004). They have built trust relationships with a few individuals but their enthusiasm is still put into solving short term problems. To aid the development of their management at this stage the organizations should offer them vacations so they can relax from the stresses of work. Stage 3: Maturity and leadership At this point the managers have evolved into leaders but they must be alert lest they ignore the day to day functioning of the organization while still maintaining a strategic focus (Mumford and Gold 2004). The organization can ensure managers evolve into leaders by offering them opportunities to extend their leadership influence. Managers can develop their own leadership capabilities by being better communicators and deeply understanding the organization’s culture. Managers should seek to understand the reality of organizational politics. Most importantly managers should keep the staff excited about the organization’s vision Stage 4: Wisdom and Mentoring  In the final stage managers are now mature leaders who can assist the organization develop other leaders (Mumford and Gold 2004). The organization should now use the knowledge and skills of thes it mature leaders to nature other leaders in the organization to reach similarc heights of leadership competence. Management Development From the discussion above there is undeniable evidence for the need of organizations to develop leaders in the place of managers or to complement management (Denning 2010). It is clear that organizations that are led by managers cannot survive in the present turbulent business environment (Armstrong 2008). To develop leaders, organizations need to understand the concepts of power and organizational culture. Power in organizations Power can be defined as the ability one individual has to influence another individual to act in accordance to their wishes. Power over others is enhanced by the dependence of one individual over the other; where an individual is more dependent on another then the individual exerting power has greater influence (Bolman and Deal 2011). To understand how power works in organizations it’s important to explore the various power bases in an organization (Kotter 1990a). Power in organizations can be broadly classified into formal power and personal power. Under formal power there are four power bases: coercive power, reward power, legitimate power and information power. Coercive power is a power base that makes use of the fear subordinates have of a leader (Ribiere and Sitar 2003). Coercion is dependent on threats and control of basic, safety or physiological needs. Effective leaders avoid using coercive powers as it has many negative effects on the organization. In contrast reward power depends on offering incentives to people for good actions (Ehin 2005). Third power base that management should put into consideration in an organization is legitimate authority (House and Aditya 1997). Legitimate authority is derived from the position of an individual in the organization’s structure. The last base of formal power is concerned with access to information and is thus regarded as information power. Where a person has privilege of access to information other do not they others become dependent on them. A second base of organizational power that leaders can rely on to lead organization is regarded to as personal power. Personal power in organizations is further divided into expert power, referent power and expert power. Expert power is dependent on the possession of superior skills or knowledge. Secondly, referent power is derived from the possession of admirable personal traits or resources by an individual (Bennis1989). Finally, Charismatic power is derived from an individual’s personality and interpersonal skills. Organizational Culture To develop into an effective leader an individual needs to have an in-depth understanding of the organizational culture of the organization one leads (Bennis and Nanus 2007). Organizational culture determines the way things are done in an organization. Management development Management development refers to the process of improving the ability of managers to carry out their work effectively. Management development is a conscious effort by an organization to make their management more capable (Bennis and Nanus 2007). Various methodologies are used for the process of developing leaders in an organization. These methodologies are discussed below. The Dysfunction Analysis method of leadership development is based on the psychological evaluation of a person. After the evaluation the organization knows whether to place the manager on a psychological training program. A second method used to develop leaders is Professional development. Professional development means mangers go through a training program to develop their management skills and capabilities (Jones 2000). Thirdly, mentoring is also used to guide leadership development in organizations. In mentoring a manager develops under the guide of a senior person. Mentors constantly challenge their mentees to develop their capabilities to higher levels. Action Learning is another management development methodology that is widely applied in organizations (Bass 2010). In action learning managers improve their management capabilities by engaging in actual problem solving situations where they are free to use their understanding and techniques to handle the problem. Internal training programs, job rotation, Vendor provided training; business workflow analysis and upward feedback are other methodologies of management development in organizations. Conclusion This paper explores the concepts of management and leadership in organization and draws a distinction between the two. It is noted management and leadership are complementary processes in organization but nowadays emphasis is being placed on leadership. 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