Discussion Topic 1: The 4 Management Functions

Manageme nt vers us Leaders hip Leadersh ip means a person co uld be a lone in his or her initial vision , and it implies so me risk. T hese p eople are innovato rs. Their job is to ins pire o thers to see a nd beli eve in the vision a nd goals of the organizati on or initiati ve. Management means respons ibility for administration of a plan or carrying o ut the plan or initiati ve thro ugh others . Leaders hip… What is it? Accord ing to Dubrin (2010), leaders ins pire oth ers to follow them in reali zing goals. Depending on the organizati on or team of people being led, the definition can h ave d ifferent nuances. A famous U.S. football quarterb ack once sa id that a l eader is the one willing to “take the b lam e” (as cited in Dubrin, 2010, p. 3). Leaders can move whole nations to acti on. One examp le of this is W inston Church ill’s famous radio broadc asts (as Prime Minister) in the U nited Kingdom d uring W orld W ar II (1939– 1945). On the bri nk of defeat in the campaign against Germ any, Church ill refus ed to be co nquered or acc ept anything less than total su rrender from the e nemy. Hi s broadc asts and sp eec hes ins pired the entirety of the na tion to ke ep on fighting. However, Church ill a lso risked ridicu le at the very beginning of the war when he warned the pub lic of the threat of Hi tler’s ambitions in Europe. Some times a leader can be a v isionary such as St eve Jobs at Apple®. Jobs pioneered a vision of streamlined p roducts that interacted in a us er-friendly manner. Hi s penc hant for simplified or s leek design of the company produ cts in res ponse to co nsumer needs dro ve indust ry growth and i nspired c ompetitors. References Dubrin, A. J. (2010). Leadersh ip: Res earch findings, practic e, and sk ills (6th e d.). Mas on, OH: Cengage. Leadership Skills Exec utive s kills needed by leaders acc ording to Hackman and W alton (1986) are: being able to see and co mmunicate the big picture or the end goal to others, negotiating for needed res ource s, making good dec isions after co nsu lting all a vailable da ta and viewpoints, empoweri ng othe rs to develop a nd learn, and working well wi th a d iverse range of people to accomp lish goals (Hi ckman, 2010, p.222). One great individual possessing these leadersh ip skills was former U.S. Pres ident Abraham Linc oln. He as semb led a cabinet of people a round h im who , in s ome cas es, had initially been his adversa ries, b ut he knew that having a diverse range of thought, talent, a nd deb ate would b enefit both the co untry and his ability to make good decisions . He a lso would tell story after story to dri ve ho me an idea or make his argument and sway opinion to h is side. The public could relate to him b eca use these were stories they co uld a ll u nderstand and which were based on com mon se nse and e veryday day life. He also timed his decisions so that he would propose a new law or announce a dec ision when he knew the p ublic was ready for it, and as a res ult they were able to acce pt it (G oodwin, 2005 ). As we move i nto the 2 1st Century, leadersh ip is bec oming increas ingly more co llabora tive. As the world becomes more globalized , and thus more complex, so too does the nature of leadersh ip. Collabora tive l eadersh ip is based on the idea that no one has all the answers and expertise at everything. Now the leader b ecomes more of a fac ilitator , empo wering and motivating the team (Hi ck man, 2 010). This type of leadersh ip is ch aract erized by fostering diversit y and learning, so liciting feedback and opinions of the grou p, and su pporting the group’s decisions. It also i nvolves mentori ng team members and empo weri ng others to lead sp ecial project or ass ignment teams . However, this co llabora tive leadership model must be balanced with the n eed for timely decision-making as the pace of business increases with globalization and i ncreased productivity throu gh the use of tec hnology. References Goodwin, D.K. (2005). Team of riva ls. New York, NY : Simon a nd Sch uster. Hackman, J.R. (2010). Leading teams: Imperatives for leaders. In G. R. Hick man (Ed.), Leading organ izati ons: Perspe ctives for a new era. (pp. 206 –238). Thous and Oaks, CA : SA GE Hi cks, D. A. (2010). Globalizati on. In G. R. Hi ckman (Ed.), Leading organizations: Perspe ctives for a n ew era. (pp. 14 –20). Thous and Oaks, CA: SA GE Leaders hip Styles There are vari ous l eadersh ip s tyles. See if you c an rec ognize your leadership s tyle from this list: The Tran sactional Leader: Employees comply wi th the leader’s requests, and they are judged on p erformance a nd p aid acco rdingly. These leaders want to cha nge things for the better a nd work through their employees to a ccomp lish the goal. A versi on of this style is the task-ori ented leader who reall y disco unts team input in order to get the job done on a timely b asis. The latter style results in h igher turnover and abse nteeism. The Autocrat ic Leader: This leadership style is efficient. The leader tells the employees or team what n eeds to be d one ; team members are expected to comply wi thout any questioning whether the acti on is the b est way to acco mplish the goals. This style can lead to h igh turno ver, but it can be effective in military situations and s ome unskilled p ositions. The Charisma tic vers us Tran sform ational Leader: The ch arismatic leader has a p erso nality that ins pires othe rs. Such leaders are excited about the goals and, as a result, they can moti vate others. However, their exciteme nt may make them dri ven b ut o bli vious to e mpoweri ng o thers or oblivious to the pitfalls of their strategies. Steve Jobs would be an e xamp le of a ch arismatic leader. W hen Steve Jo bs was not at the co mpany he helped found , Apple, Inc., the company floundered. W hile the transformati onal leader is admired by emp loyees and therefore i nfluenc es emp loyees behavior. These leaders are risk takers while i nstilling a se nse of miss ion and zeal in their emp loyees. These leaders co ach each e mployee a nd act as mentors to ins pire and empower their emp loyees. They pro vide c lear guideli nes for both beh avior and e xpectations as well as goals a nd how to get there. But they enco urage emp loyees to be innovative in reac hing those goals. Reference Bass, B. M. & Riggio, R. E. (2010). The transformati on model of leadersh ip. In G. R. Hi ckman (Ed.), Leading Organizations: Persp ectives for a new era (pp.76 –85). Thousa nd Oaks, CA : SA GE Bure aucra tic Lea ders versus Particip ative Le aders versus Laissez faire leaders: Bu reaucr atic leaders follow the rules verba tim, which is good when the goal is safety (toxins and dangerous mac hinery for instanc e). However, this style s tifles any creativity or care er advancement based on anything other than abiding by the rules. The particip ative leader allows team decision -making and reach es team co nse nsus to move forward, which in turn empowers the team and can lead to better decisions. The downs ide of this style is that it is not efficient. W hen time is of the ess ence this is not an advantageous style. The extreme versi on of this style can be people first type of style where the leader los es track of the goal in their quest to better the team. Laissez faire is French for, let do or act, meaning this leader reall y lets everyone do as they wi sh. It is reall y non–leadersh ip. This form of leadership is more likely to occ ur in a startup company where someone is designated the leader but, in ess ence, everyone involved is deciding a nd doing. This is not an effective l eadersh ip s tyle, as ultimately it leads to co nflict and, at worst, it can stymie an o rganizati on and the employees from effectively reach ing their goals. Leaders hip Styles: The reali ty is that most leaders use a vari ety of styles at various points . However, there is us ually a predom inant leadersh ip style. Reference Hi ckman, G. R. Ed. (2010). Leading organ izati ons: Persp ectives for a n ew era (2nd e d.). Thous and Oaks, CA : SA GE