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Assignment on Effective Leadership

   

Added on  2021-05-06

4 Pages2425 Words57 Views
For a manager, carrying the burden of ensuring success for a business can be a stressful task, but with appropriate knowledge this can be minimised. This required knowledge goes from basic definitions between managerial roles and the way they support a business, to mastering the characteristics for effective leadership, especially when implementing changes as this will have a huge impact on everyone involved in the organisation. Managers must be efficient communicators, as this is paramount for any organisation, especially in relation to decision making processes. Managers at all levels share a goal, to ensure success “through efficient planning, direction and organisation” (Lomas, referred to reference.com, 2016). There are different managerial roles that overseesdifferent areas of a business, the structure of the business will define a chain of command; showing “who reports to who” and communications, as well as the span of control of each level. Junior Managers tend to be low in the chain of command and in contrast with higher levels they possess smaller span of control. They oversee efficiency for their teams, day-to-day tasks and they directly affect performance by setting goals for their teams. As they oversee the success of the base of the operations, they must keep their staff motivated to ensure efficiency and meet targets set by the middle management. Managers on this level act as the “middle-man” when passing communications through the chain of command to employees, as well as passing any concerns to higher levels. Junior Levels are usually constituted by Supervisors and Team Leaders they report through the chain of command to the Middle Level Management.The middle level management is constituted by General Managers, Regional Managers and Departmental Managers. They ensure that departmental goals are set in line with the Senior management’s visions and they are generally responsible for decision making within department. In contrast to the junior management, they possess a wider span of control; it embarks the junior management and their teams. They support the junior management to set goals for their teams, and targets to meet the operational goals.Middle managers “are responsible and answerable for the performance of the respective departments theymanage” (Bhasin, 2019). They share with the junior management that, in the command chain, they still report to a higher management level, this being the senior level management, they usually also oversee communications between junior managers and senior management.The senior level management is constituted by the Chief Executive Officer, Chairperson and Managing Directors, and they oversee the long vision plans for the company and the strategic side of the organisation, contrary to the Junior Level and Middle Level they do not handle day-to-day operations. This level of management’s span of control Is the whole organisation, and it is the “ultimate source of authority” (Kukjera, n.d). Although they are on top of the command chain, the Senior Management is responsible for responding and communicating with stakeholders about the business, as well as keeping motivation and communication about future with all levels of the business.The main goal for managers at every level is to achieve organisational success, and to do so knowledge ofthe different styles of management, the ability to adapt these styles to different scenarios; such as “workplace culture”, and their use as tools for effective leadership will consequently enhance staff efficiency as they feel more inspired and motivated; this is when an individual passes from being merely amanager and becomes a leader, truly fulfilling its role.The type of business and its work culture have a huge impact when choosing a predominant leadership style, as this determines “the way we do things here” (Bower, 1966). Lewin and colleagues (1939) produced three types of leadership styles that can be used to become a more effective leader. He explains that an Authoritarian Style or Autocratic Leadership Style could be beneficial to manage a type business that does not allow gaps for mistakes, or it has unskilled staff that requires constant supervision. This
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style is likely to not be sustainable for long periods of time as this type of leader is characterised by having all the decision-making power and giving very little, to noting, to employees; this not supporting long term efficiency as employees might feel that their input is not valued as well as limiting learning opportunities for the manager and employees. This style although good for productivity and quick-decision-making It also neglects the employee’s motivational needs, such as through achievements (McClelland, 1961), consequently negatively affecting efficiency and leading to increased levels of absenteeism and staff turnover. Lewin (1939) moves from the autocrat style and adds a “Participative Style or Democratic Style”, which he considers the most efficient leadership style. This type of leadership allows employees to take part in the decision-making process while the manager keeps the final decision, this style uses the full potential of employees’ expertise, encourages creativity, gets ideas that maybe the leader would have not thought of and keeps employees motivated by giving them a sense of achievement; employees tent to be more motivated by the work they do than by financial incentives or rewards, as Herzberg concluded regarding salary; “forall people,there are bigger more sustaining motivators than money”. This style focuses on people and quality rather than productivity, not making it suitable for some “task” focused scenarios, so itis important to reiterate the importance of using a curated mix of styles when managing your team.Some managers have worked with the same team for a long time, using a democratic leadership style andtaking an active role in developing their decision-making skills, so they are trusted and experienced. If a manager is certain that they have a highly efficient, self- motivated team, a Delegative style could work for them. This style allows team members to work with minimal assistance, although this style can be very damaging if the team is not skilled or knowledgeable enough, “it is likely they have reached this stage because they have been assisted in their development.” (Leadershipandperformance, 2019) thus by ensuring that this stage is reached organically, that there are available resources to support them and by checking their performance, this can be a successful model. Allowing employees to self-manage their work, could improve performance, and give them a higher sense of achievement, allowing the manager tofocus on other matters such as the strategic side of the business. Leadership styles are also explained as a continuum of behaviour where a manager decide how much responsibility to give and what level of freedom to employees (Tanenbaum and Schmidt, 1958). Tannenbaum’s and Schmidt’s added how a leader can identify a problem and “Tell”, acting as an authoritarian by not asking for input from employees, this characteristic also presented in the autocrat style. It adds that a manager might “Sell” and idea by sharing benefits and reasoning behind the decision process yet making this decision on its own. Another characteristic is that the manager might “Consult”; in relation to Lewin’s model this is a characteristic of a democratic style, the manager on this instance will not make any final decisions without getting suggestions from team members. Tannenbaum and Schmidt add a final characteristic where a manager provides limits within the problem-solution process and the manager decides to “Join” or to leave it to the team, this showing high levels of trust in the team but also making the manager liable for any failure, although this can be minimized by the manager settingthe right boundaries and cultivating the team’s skills. John Adair’s (1973) puts it perfectly when explaining in a simple “Action-Centred Leadership Model” how every area is as important as the other, and how neglecting one of this areas will end up affecting the other; you can see it as an ecosystem where “achieving tasks”, “building the team” and “developing individuals” are essential to maintain balance, therefore is the leader’s responsibility to meet the organisational needs as well as of those of the employees by intelligently using the different styles.
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