Leadership and Management

Question 1

Management is the co-coordination of individual effort in order to achieve a common goal. It is the act of getting things done through other people. It is the coordination of activities in an organization to achieve a set goal. It involves the coordination of factors of production such as land, labor, entrepreneurship, and capital, machinery, and raw materials. The managers have power bestowed upon them by the owners of the organizations to make the decision and oversee the firms’ performance. Leadership is the ability to influence, direct, and guide others. A leader can direct a group of individual, a party, or a union. Leadership and management differ significantly. To begin with, a leader sets goals and looks for ways to achieve them. They are the torchbearers for the team who motivate and lead the group members.

Leaders challenge the status quo. Managers, on the contrary, maintain the status quo and work in accordance with the set standards. Leaders must regularly work towards ensuring a balance between challenging the status quo and maintaining teamwork within an organization. On the other hand, managers use a set of proven rules and regulations to run the organization. Leaders are best in situations where situations where a change seems imminent.

Managers make short-term goals used to run day-to –day activities, whereas the leaders make long-term decisions. While short term results are more favorable for managers, leaders pursue an overall growth of the organizations which often requires setting long term goals. This aspect of leadership makes leadership more favorable to an organization’s shareholders.

The actions of the managers are reactive while those of leaders are proactive. Managers tend to always be reacting to difficulties in an organization. They tend to be more of problem solvers than opportunity takers. On the other hand, leaders are regularly looking for opportunities of growth in an organization. Once they observe an opportunity that can be implemented to obtain growth, they push through with it to the end. On the subject of the essence, the essence of a manager is all about stability while the essence of a leader is change (Rost, 1991). Leaders try to bring change to an organization and the way people think. A manager makes and strictly follows the rules set while the leaders break those rules. The manager plans the details of approaching a particular situation while leaders set directions. Managers execute the culture, which is already in existence, whereas the leaders shape the culture in an organization. Managers work in such a way as to avoid conflicts while leaders try to face those conflicts.

Leaders believe that for an organization to move forward, friction in the form of conflicts is bound to occur. Managers always take credit while leaders give out credit. The manager makes decisions while leader gives out the decisions. Manager memories and tell the vision of an organization while leaders facilitate the vision. The style adopted by the managers is the transactional style that enables them to achieve the set goals while the style adopted by a leader is the transformational style. They work to transform people, organization, and culture to a more productive level. Finally, the manager does things right and changes them while leaders do the right thing and change the world (Bertocci, 2009). While managers are all about maintaining stability, leaders are more interested in improving every aspect of their organization and environment. They work towards improving the leadership the organization’s productivity, their society, their followers and every other aspect. On the other hand, managers are only out to profit their organizations and every aspect of their operations is pointed towards this goal.

Question 2

Over the decades, several schools of thought try to explain where leaders come from, their identity, and their personalities. The trait theory and skill theory are the two schools of thoughts trying to answer these questions. The trait theory is the more ancient theory, which believes that leadership is inborn. The theory postulates that the leaders have special talents that distinguish them from others. The born leaders take control and guide situations (Lussier, 2008). People who use this belief also cite the lineages of leadership that are often evident in certain families. This theory must have motivated the traditional method of having leadership passed within certain loyal family lines. It, however, also largely limited the potential of certain people who would have otherwise become leaders. They believe that these individual shapes the history using their personal characteristics and inspiration thus, through examining their lives critically, one can clearly understand the true nature of leaders.

On the other hand, for the skill approach, a leader is defined by the attributes that are innate and fixed. The theory believes that one can also become a leader through technical knowledge and proficiency in an activity. The trait theory originated from the great man concept that postulates that the leaders have specific characteristics that are neither learned nor acquired. The theory later evolved and asserted that leaders’ characteristics such as weight and height are hereditary while other attributes such as knowledge are dependent on learning and experience.

The major difference between the trait approach and the skill theory approach crops from the idea that born leaders could not be developed nor taught. Individual characteristic components of the skill model are trait driven. The trait theory explains who a leader is whereas the skill theory shows what a leader does. The actions that a leader takes come from the behavioral theory. The trait is an attribute genetically determined while a behavior is the way an individual conducts himself. A good leader should be honest. He has to be trustworthy. He should be able to multiply himself by the delegation of duties and responsibilities. He should possess excellent communication skills and should have a sense of humor. The ability to communicate effectively determines the magnitude of a leader’s following. The better a communicator any leader is, the better a leader he is seen to be. He is able to lead people against the grain and generate results where normal managers would find it difficult. A leader should always be confident with whatever he does. He should be a positive thinker and very creative. He should be in a position to inspire the people he manages (Ledlow et. al, 2014).

Over time, trait theory has become less and less believed and people are increasingly pursuing careers in leadership. The skill theory believes that leadership qualities can be passed on to others through education and exposure to certain challenges. Both theories have some truth in them. However, even for individuals who have the right traits for leadership would do better if their skills were sharpened in the right areas. Individuals who lack leadership qualities could do better if they were armed with the skills that are suitable for leadership.

One of the major attributes of the trait theory is that it believes that any person can become a leader. With this belief, people put an effort to becoming better leaders and to understanding various aspects of leadership. Through this school of thought, people become more and more likely to become better leaders. On the other hand, the theory is difficult to differentiate from the trait theory. It is basically believed that learning new skills is best done if an individual has the right foundational traits to become a leader.

On the other hand, the trait theory is weakened by its inability to explain people who show their leadership attributes in the later years of their lives. It is also unable to explain why individuals who have a better level of education are better leaders. It is, however, better at explaining other scenarios. It is for example evident that certain leadership attributes are evident in the early years of life.

Question 3

There are four major leadership styles adopted by situational managers. To begin with is the coaching style. It is a type of situational leadership, which involves hands-on involvement in the workers’ work process. This approach is more beneficial when an employee shows some weaknesses, thus a manager steps in to help him. The employee, however, should be able to acknowledge his weakness and should show the desire to improve for coaching effectiveness. This style could be applied in an institutional where new employees are being taken in. As they come, they will come with various difficulties especially as pertains to working with the specific organization. It is the role of the leader to assist with knowledge wherever such an employee is in difficulty.

Secondly, is directing. It involves identifying a challenge and looking for ways to overcome them. The manager has to establish goals to achieve. A directing leader gives directions on the most appropriate ways to tackle a problem. They are also good at identifying situations that make their working ineffective and devise methods of resolving them. The directing method is disfavored by some employees but would be most appropriate in certain situations where the manager is an expert in a certain field.

Thirdly is delegating. The manager in this type places the responsibility on the employees. He only provides guidance when the need arises. This style is very effective when dealing with experienced staff who can execute their duties independently. Leaders who work with a large number of employees under them are more likely to use this method since it is more difficult to associate individually with each employee in the organization. With smaller numbers, the manager is also more likely to identify the specific difficulties that each employee is undergoing.

Finally is the supporting style where the leader plays the motivational role. He works to instill confidence and improve employees’ morale. The leader as a supporter of his employees comes in handy in the areas where employees are undergoing certain difficulties. Motivation serves to show these employees that their difficulties will be short lived. This style of leadership is most applicable in growing organizations. In such cases, employees will have their salaries increase with time and they will rise through the ladders of leadership.

The development level is crucial as it helps the managers to select the leadership style that suits the situation and best benefits the organization (Malhotra, 2005). By understanding the level of development of an employee, a manager then alters his leadership style to one that would be most appropriate for the employee’s level of development. Employees who have a low directive and high supportive behavior are best led through the supporting form of leadership. The coaching form of leadership is adopted in cases where the employees have a high supportive and high directive behavior. Low directive and low supportive behavior is best coupled with the delegating form of leadership while directing leadership is used if the follower has low supportive and high directive behavior. Understanding this enables leaders to deal with employees under different situations.

Question 4

The teleological and deontological theories are the major theories to the study of ethics in leadership. The deontological theory is rule driven. It has rules to follow whereas teleology base morality on the result of an action. The difference between the two theories results from the focus. The deontological theory focuses on actions and rule that differ from one system to another. The teleological theory focuses on the action. This theory does not set rules to follow like deontological theory. The deontological ethics takes into consideration the motives and intentions of individual while teleological theories consider the outcomes and purposes.

Teleological moral theories argue that the consequences of a behavior are more important than the behavior itself. It argues that the all actions by humans are teleological in nature. The argument is that people only get involved in activities only for the ends. They first determine the ends of the actions before they set upon those actions. This theory defines moral behavior as goal oriented. Teleological theories are based on careful consideration. A good example would be if a manager wants to have something done in the organization. Other than just getting the action completed, the manager must also consider other factors like the end result of the specific action to the various aspects of the organization.

A morally upright leader prioritizes the health and state of his employees to that of the material property of the company. If a fire broke out in the organization, for example, a leader would only go as far to saving the property of the organization as is safe. The decision to stop or refrain from performing a certain action is motivated by the end result. He first considers the moral implications of the decision before going ahead with it.

The teleological point of view regards illegal activities with special interest with the intention of the perpetrator. An employee who steals from the company is not regarded guilty just because he did. Instead, the factors surrounding his action are studied. If the employee, for example, steals from the organization to settle the bill of a family member at the hospital or to save a life, then he may be allowed to repair the damage caused on the organization.

On the other hand, deontological theories are duty driven. The argument here is that happiness, consequences, and pleasure are completely unrelated to the rightness or wrongness of an act. Deontological theories argue that it is the duty of every individual to obey a set code of conduct. In the above example, the employee is deemed guilty provided there is evidence incriminating him. What he did with the money is selfish and against the set code of conduct.

Understanding why certain philosophers take this position is not difficult. It is not always that the rightness or wrongness of an act goes hand in hand with the decrease of pain or increase of pleasure. Consider a scenario where parents would consider trading in their children. In such a situation, they would be making profit from this trade. On the other hand, the family that makes this purchase may be happy to have a child. If they go ahead to make this child loved, everyone becomes happy. In this situation, everyone becomes happy irrespective of the wrongness of child trafficking.

In leadership, a leader would be considered morally upright if he was able to stick to the rules in every situation. This would then imply that he would refrain from mistreatment of employees, embezzlement and other activities that would be considered illegal.

Ethical egoism is a position where individuals ought to do what is in their best self-interest. This theory states that one should be the motivator to his actions. People should act for themselves. On the other hand, altruism is the practice of unselfishness.  According to this theory, an individual has a duty to help others. The two theories completely contradict each other. With egoism, individual may lack support. It reduces the firms’ productivity and performance unlike adopting the altruism. In addition, a problem of conflicts with moral convictions may arise. A good leader should minimize being self-centered and work to improve his welfare, as well as the welfare of others. It is hard to motivate another and almost impossible. The word motivates means to change them. One may not be able to change another person but can only help that person to change himself. A leader may adopt several ways in an attempt to help others change themselves. He has to act as a role model for the employees. The leader has to clearly define the vision, mission, goals, and objective of each employee and help them towards the realization of those goals. He has to delegate duties and monitor the progress of employees’ performance (Lunenburg et. al, 2008).

Question 5

The path-goal theory is a theory that holds that it is impossible for an employee to be motivated by another person. It holds that the leadership style should be such that it best suits the work environment and employees with the intention of improving the company’s productivity. In this case, the treatment and the work environment that is promoted by the leader are responsible for improving the motivation and productivity of employees.

It is based the expectancy theory which states that an individual only behaves in a certain way if they determine that the action will have a positive outcome in their favor. The path-goal theory is best seen as one that holds that employees should be treated in such a way as to ensure that their welfare is closely watched. It is intended to guide employees towards the right path that would eventually help in meeting their goals.

Generally, the path-goal theory is not an exact procedure. However, it will always follow certain basic steps. These include:

• Find out the environment and employee characteristics
• Select the appropriate style of leadership
• Center on the factors of motivation that would be most appropriate for the employees’ success

Basically, the level of employee motivation depends on how well a leader is able to meet their needs. The leader must therefore understand the level of structure required, affiliation, desire for control and the perceived level of ability possessed by employees. If the employees perceive that any of these factors are not in their favor, they will be less motivated and hence affect their productivity.

Another important aspect of the Path-Goal Theory is the focus on reducing obstacles in the organization. If the tasks performed by an employee become more and more difficult, it is the role of the manager to step in. A few scenarios where the manager may be required to step in include:

• Task design – an extremely difficult task may call for require the intervention of the leader while an ambiguous one would call upon the manager to provide it with more structure
• The system of formal authority – depending on the task, a leader may be required to give employees control and provide them with specific and clear goals
• Work group – the leader is charged to ensure that an effective teamwork system is available

In conclusion, the path-goal theory is one that charges leaders with the role of providing a good environment for them to perform their duties. Motivation and improved productivity will be guaranteed if employees feel that the situation at the workplace is in their favor.

References

Bertocci, David I. Leadership in Organizations: There Is a Difference between Leaders and Managers. Lanham, Md: University Press of America, 2009. Internet resource.

Ledlow, Gerald R, M N. Coppola, Katey Birtcher, and Michael O’Donnell. Leadership for Health Professionals: Theory, Skills, and Applications. , 2014. Internet resource.

Lunenburg, Frederick C, and Allan C. Ornstein. Educational Administration: Concepts and Practices. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2008. Print.

Lussier, Robert N. Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill Development. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.

Malhotra, Naresh K. Review of Marketing Research: Vol. 1. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. Print.

Rost, Joseph C. Leadership for the Twenty-First Century. New York: Praeger, 1991. Print.