Leadership and Management in Healthcare: A Case Study of GlaxoSmithKline

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
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1INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
Introduction:
Leadership and management are often perceived as synonymous terms however
there is a distinct difference between the two terms. According to Gopee and Galloway
(2017), leadership can be defined as the course of action taken by a leading group to
direct people towards a common goal. It should be mentioned in this context that in the
words of Kumar (2013), leaders are characterized by three important traits that include
the ability of the leader to share a vision, inspire the workforce to act in the direction of
the vision and motivate the workforce to overcome the obstacles in the path of realizing
the vision. On the other hand, management can be defined as the process of controlling
people and managing the work process (Fitzgerald et al. 2013). The central focus of
management is on monitoring and controlling the workforce and not on the employees.
The key attributes of manager involve the process of planning, organizing as well as
coordinating (Al-Sawai 2013; D’Andreamatteo et al. 2014). In addition to this managers
stringently monitor their processes in order to improvise on the work process. In this
context, it should be stated that for the smooth management of the work process and
work flow in an organization the organizational leaders must adapt a unique leadership
style best suited to drive the working employee force to acquire maximum productivity
(Mosadeghrad 2014). A number of researchers have conducted studies to evaluate the
existing relationship between leadership and management within an organization. A
study conducted by Alvesson and Sveningsson (2003), stated that the manner in which
the supervisors or managers in an organization interacted with the employee workforce
deeply affected the work environment. The researchers conducted interviews with the
managers and the findings established that managers who were cordial to the

2INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
employees and participated in informal chatting and actively listened to the concerns of
the employees generated a positive impact on the employees (Alvesson and
Sveningsson 2003). The employees could connect better, feel respected, recognized
and not treated as anonymous within a team. This paper is going to focus on the
healthcare and pharmaceutical industry with special emphasis on the GlaxoSmithKline
pharmaceutical company to compare and contrast the main points on leadership
mentioned by Alvesson and Sveningsson in their research paper.
Discussion:
The GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) pharmaceutical industry is a British based
pharmaceutical industry with it headquarters in Brentford, London (GSK 2019). The
company was established in the year 2000 by merging the two enterprises of Glaxo
Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham (GSK 2019). Research studies indicate that in the
year, 2015, GlaxoSmithKline was recognized as the sixth largest pharmaceutical
enterprise (Delmatoff and Lazarus 2014). The present CEO of the organization is Emma
Walmsley who is also the first woman CEO to manage the company affairs (GSK 2019).
It should be mentioned in this context that the organization functions with a powerful
combination of resources and expertise skills that has helped the organization in
attaining stability in the dynamic pharmaceutical market (GSK 2019). The organization
typically promotes pharmaceutical products under four major therapeutic domains that
include, the respiratory system, the gastrointestinal system, the central nervous system
and the anti-allergic drugs. In addition to this, GSK is also a global leader in the field of
vaccines.