Principles and Practices of Leadership and Management: A Critical Analysis of Leadership Theories and Skills

This report explores the principles and practices of leadership and management, focusing on the critical analysis of different leadership theories and their application in real-world scenarios. It examines the contingency leadership theory, transformational leadership theory, behavioral leadership theory, and the Great Man theory, comparing their strengths and weaknesses. The report also identifies and critically evaluates the most important leadership skills and competencies required for effective leadership in organizations, including social intelligence, decision-making, and area-related expertise. The analysis is based on a case study of PepsiCo's CSI department, highlighting the need for leaders to adapt their approach to the specific context and organizational needs.

Principles and Practices of Leadership and Management
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Table of Contents
Coursework 1 Report.......................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
Course work 2 Report......................................................................................................................9
Introduction......................................................................................................................................9
Critically evaluate the most important leadership skills and competencies that you think will be
required for this organization...........................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
Reference list.................................................................................................................................13
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Coursework 1 Report
Introduction
Practice of management and leadership along with the classical enunciation of management
theories can be draw back to the 19th century. Leadership, management, organizational culture
and philosophies are inextricably connected resulting to the organizational effectiveness.
According to various theories and principles, it have been understood that management can be
defined as maintaining the status and profitability of an organization by a transactional approach.
On the other hand, leadership reflects dynamic and visionary approaches through and
transformational procedure. This section of the entire study will be exploring benefits and
specifications of contingency leadership theory along with comparing it with more two
leadership theories. At the end, this report will be discussing recommendations related to the
requirements.
Critical comparison of different leadership theories
As per the case study, the sales manager of a leading organization wants to develop
communication between all the team members and create an organizational culture in which all
the team members will have equal right to state about their preferences and participation in
decision-making process could be enhanced effectively in future. For this purpose, sales manager
has decided to implement the contingency leadership theory in the team management process
and aspire to combine it with other effective leadership theories to get a more fruitful result. For
fulfilling these purposes below contingency theory and its evaluation with other theories will be
discussed.
Contingency theories of leadership
Fiedler’s leadership theory is one of the contingency leadership theories, which states the fact
that an efficient leadership depends not only on the method of leading but also on the
understanding and management of the current organizational situation. According to Chemers
(2014) each organization needs to be a good leader-member relationship with tasks that have
clear aims and processes as well as capability for a leader to reach out all punishments and
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rewards. Traits and principles involve in the contingency leadership approach addresses that
lacking these three above-mention perspectives in the right collaboration and context will affect
on leadership effectiveness. Contingency leadership theory gives trace on leader’s psychological
and personality disposition and reflects factors with which leaders could manage tasks involved
and whether leaders could exert control over their teams (Antonakis and Day, 2017). Application
of this theory of leadership in managing human resources and teams is described below.
Critical analysis of contingency leadership theory
This theory attempts to co-relate research on various management variables for instance,
investigation on professionalism and integrated decision-making process or employee education
along with task complexities. The theory allows leader to evaluate a specific situation and
determine what specifications impact core decision-making through which organization is
concerned. The “management contingency model” is cited below.
Figure 1: Management contingency model
(Source: Antonakis and Day, 2017)
Centre of the circle from above figure represents an organization. One can notice from the figure
that main internal contingency on which organizational management relies, is the company’s
objective or purpose. The people management, technology applied, tasks performed along with
organizational structure are all greatly influenced by an organizations’ objectives. This model is
influenced by Anderson
et al. (2018), “Management Concepts and Situations, Science Research
Associates Inc”. Apart from these there are internal contingency needs of an organization and the
external organizational contingencies that a management or leader should keep in mind while
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organizing a team to get effective performance and profitability. According to Scott and Davis
(2015), the internal organizational contingencies are various objectives, aims of a company,
tasks, people, organizational structure and technologies. On the other hand, the external
contingencies are socio-cultural factors, influence of politics, economic change, environmental
and technological changes in the outside business environment. Concisely, the contingency
leadership theory helps to identify whether a leader is task-focused or relationship-focused and
provide efficient leadership style to the situation (Farh and Chen, 2018). As per the given case
study, sales manager will get help through this leadership theory and model as he is focused in
building relationship between all the team members so that all the tasks will be finished in
collaboration.
Figure 2: How leadership style and model fits the situation
(Source: Farh and Chen, 2018)
Critical evaluation of contingency, Behavioural, transformational and Great-man leadership
theories
Apart from the contingency leadership theory, there are other three leadership theories that could
be applied in combination with the previous explained theory to achieve better results. These
leadership theories are behavioural leadership theory, transformational and Great-man leadership
theories. Critical evaluation of each theory along with their effectiveness is listed below.
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Transformational leadership theory
Making effective performance working force has become significantly important and to do so
organizational leaders should be capable to influence members of a company to go beyond their
tasks need. As an outcome, new concepts of leadership have developed; the
transformational
leadership is one of them. According to McCleskey (2014) this kind of leadership may be found
at all levels of a company including teams, divisions, important departments and company as a
whole. A transformational leader must exhibit some qualities in front of their team members.
These qualities are inspiration, risk-taking abilities, making and clarifying organizational vision
and others. As per the critical examination of To
et al. (2015), transformational leaders should
take care of four key factors such as, intellectual stimulation capacity, individualized
considerations, inspirational motivations and idealized influence on team members.
Figure 3: Transformational leadership theory
(Source: To
et al., 2015)
From several analyses, it could be said that this kind of leadership style makes use of impression
management, provides a job satisfaction, commitment, and involve tea members in
organizational citizenship behaviours. With such effective working force, transformational
leadership style could be applicable along with contingency leadership theory to get more
depending team members and increase their participation level in decision-making process.
The Behavioural leadership theory
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On the other hand, the behavioural leadership theory reflects leader’s nature in marinating and
managing a particular team. A leader should be employee oriented or task oriented. According to
Holten and Brenner (2015) if a leader is task oriented then it would be effective for an
organization in a sense that leaders will mainly focus on all the tasks done. On the other hand,
Orr and Cleveland-Innes (2015) has said that if the leader is employee oriented then effective
team building and preferences of each employee would be at the centre. Even though there is
enough emphasis on employee freedom, some important principles and organizational structure
will be there to accomplish all the targeted tasks. In this respect, this leadership theory is suitable
for the given situation. Sales manager could adopt the employee oriented leadership approach to
manage and develop team members’ efficiency level along with efficiency of the entire team. On
the other hand, efforts toward explorations for general traits of leadership are prolonged over
centuries, as most organizational cultures require.
The Great Man Theory
The effort toward explorations for common traits of leadership is protracted over centuries, as
most cultures need leaders to explain their achievements and to provide justifications of their
failures. According to Spector (2016), the “Great man theory” suggests leaders have some
qualities in them inborn and that only those individuals are gifted with some heroic qualifications
could ever become the leaders. Mouton (2017) has opined that leaders are not made; they are
born. From the above analysis and definition of “Great man theory”, it could be said that mostly
this leadership theory is based upon myths and all the leaders are born. This theory does not fit
with the changing organizational needs. Current business environment and organization needs a
leader that could inspire their team members in a way that tasks will be cleared to them and they
could identify easy ways to achieve main purpose of their organization as per their own
competency level. A leader, who exhibit behaviours and personality that all skills are inborn and
no external efforts are there to achieve leadership qualities, could not be able to manage or
motivate team members. Therefore, this leadership theory and style does not go with
requirements and needs of the sales manager. According to the care scenario, sales manager
needs a leadership approach in which both the leader and team members equally exhibit efforts
to develop team competency level and respect for each other.
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Conclusion
Form the above discussion, it has been understood that in the changing business environment
organizations need an effective and well-managed leadership approach to accomplish all the
tasks. This study has been helpful for developing understanding regarding four different
leadership styles and theories that are important for developing team integrity level. From the
above discussion, it has been identified that sales manager of the larger organization needs
transformational, contingency or situational and behavioural leadership theories to achieve
success as per his set targets. From the above discussion, it has been understood that which
leadership theories are important for most organizations to manage effectiveness of various
teams and overall profitability.
Recommendations
According to the given case scenario, it could be said that sales manager need to study and
research about the transformational leadership and behavioural leadership theories along with
previously selected contingency leadership theory of leadership. These two theories will help in
reducing chances of employee turnover in this company, as application of
Transformational
leadership approach would enhance a sense, that leader also exhibiting equal efforts with
employees to change or modify current operations in order to achieve effective results. More
participation level will be encouraged with this theory. On the other hand, the
Behavioural
leadership theory would be effective for the sales manager if he apply employee-oriented
perspective not the task-oriented approach. This leadership theory would help in implementing
flexible leadership approach in comparison of the directive approach. The transformational
leadership style will help to develop governance style, make leaders to provide creative
directions to attain set productivity level and enhance customer satisfaction level through
effective professionalism of employees. All these factors match perfectly with the needs of the
sales manager underlined in the given case study. The Behavioural leadership style would help
directly motivate employees to take risks and participate more in the decision-making process.
These activities would help to formulate plans to achieve organizational objectives and aims
efficiently if one plan fails.
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Course work 2 Report
Introduction
The leadership traits and perspective is perhaps one of the most arguable intellectual traditions in
leadership research. Irrespective of all its prior prominence in leadership study, it rapidly fell out
of favour among leadership researchers. Therefore, in spite of the current empirical support for
leadership perspectives, conceptual works in this area lags behind other important theoretical
perspectives. There are various leadership approaches available in the context of supporting
logical traditions, involving evolutionary psychology along with behavioural genetics. This
present case scenario, Jorge Rubio, national director of CSI (“Consumer Strategic Insights”) for
PFM has clarified the fact that change in the name and strategic structure of the prior MRD
(marketing research department) will be held with effective team members as soon as possible.
He has communicated some other aims related to organizational growth such as all the CSI
workers’ would demand for training as per their jobs and managers must exhibit qualities like a
teacher and counselor not as a dictator. In this context, proper leadership approach and style will
be listed and evaluated below along with important leadership skills for the employees.
Critically evaluate the most important leadership skills and competencies that you think will be
required for this organization.
As per the case study, three core leadership competencies are essential for this organization to
develop leadership techniques in this organization according to their current requirements and
train employees so that they could develop individual skill level and effectively achieve all the
objectives. Explanation of these three leadership skills and competencies are listed below.
Social intelligence capability of leaders and employees
The social intelligence is not only one of the most effective predictors of efficient leadership, but
also this is ineffectively acknowledged and under-researched. According to Goleman (2017),
social intelligence is a wide topic, but can be best identified in terms of acknowledging all the
social situations and dynamics. This competency is helpful in developing ability of leaders and
managers to operate efficiently in many of social situations. As per the observation and
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investigation of Bandura (2014), it could be said that the social intelligence skill is one kind of
constellation of social performance, role-playing competency and providing sensibility to social
situations. All these factors are particularly important for delivering main aims and achieve
effective results according to the needs of PepsiCo to change their organizational structure as
prescribed by Jorge Rubio. On the other hand, the social intelligence skill of a leader could be
called as an ability to communicate well with others or one kind of people management skill.
This is a learned capability including situational consciousness, developing understanding of
social dynamics and how these could affect on the organizational profitability, and a respected
amount of self-awareness and self-responsibility. Wang
et al. (2017) have stated that there are
four factors of social intelligence skill that needs to be followed by all the leaders. These factors
are
communication skills, understanding and motivating employees, social regulation and rule
management, impression management.
This leadership skill will be implemented by the leaders by allowing employees to various
people, varied social situations and train workers so that they could engage others in active
conversation. In this way, organizational aim will be achieved effectively. This particular skill in
leaders will help to develop operations of the marketing management department to evaluate in-
house customer studies, support marketing and sales strategies of the above-mentioned
organization. Through self-aware, self-responsible team the management team could more
effectively indulge in customer evaluation studies in different social contexts.
Decision-making skill
Another important leadership skill and competency that the leaders and employees required in
this organization is the decision-making skill. Ability to make and provide good, relative,
practical decisions according to the organizational situations would help employees to
understand all the tasks and their individual requirements very easily. Clinton (2017) has stated
that there are better and bad ways of making a decision, and a good leader could understand
needs of making a decision and consulting it with others by indulging the in the main decision-
making process. The decision-making process offers a consistent series of processes leading to a
decision outcome at the time of avoiding common thinking errors. Sekaran and Bougie (2016)
have focused that effective decision-making process helps in managing collaboration,
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cooperation skills and communication between various departments as well as among
employees.
According to Goleman (2017), developing decision-making competencies will come from the
learning achieved from experiencing the cost of making and providing ineffective decisions at
first. Leaders of PepsiCo need to understand relativity and connection of decision-making skills
in an organizational environment where all the risks of important negative consequences, which
come from poor selection is limited or eliminated. From the above discussion, it has been
understood that decision-making process could be ineffective and affect on the organizational
productivity level as well as profitability (Goleman, 2017). On the other hand, good decision-
making procedure can collaborate all the employees and management to deliver integrated and
effective functions, which are fruitful for achieving objectives, aims and goals.
This leadership skill or competency is helpful for the above-mentioned organization in the sense
that, by effective decision-making process or bringing change in the decision-making process,
the management can organize efficient training process of their workers and develop their self-
responsibility sense. On the other hand, with good decision-making process, organizational
management of PepsiCo could change their marketing and investigation operations and
eventually get useful analysis of customers’ preferences and demands. Overall organization’s
proficiency level in the Mexico market could be enhanced with good decision-making
capabilities (Suárez, 2016). With more prolific decision-making process, PepsiCo could be able
to develop functional effectiveness of their former marketing research department. Therefore, his
leadership competency is equally important for this company as per their current organizational
needs as the above skill.
Area related skill/Competence of leaders
Various people might consider this leadership competency at first, cut in current business
environment, understanding and knowledge of all parts of a job or task is not as significant and it
used to be. According to Higgs and Dulewicz (2016), in various industries and creative
organizations, team members might have more relative competencies and knowledge than their
leaders and managers. Still, this is valuable that leaders in PepsiCo increase their expertise level
in this specific situation where they lead. Area based competency and skill of employees as well
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as leaders is important for this company as this capability could help leaders to provide training
to workers by understanding their individual lacks and employees’ will also be able to
understand their specific job roles and try to finish all within given time. As prescribed by Clark
(2017), like all of the above-mentioned competencies, growth is a lifelong procedure. Efficient
organizational leaders achieve competencies and try to execute those skills as much as possible
in tasks and in learning regarding organization, its changing needs, products and team members.
This capability of leaders could help team workers and leaders to change organizational structure
and create an environment, which is flexible, full of employee motivation and focused on their
customers, their demands and preferences.
Conclusion
From the above discussion and analysis regarding effective leadership qualities and
competencies, it has been understood that organizational management is giving trace on the
leadership quality development programs in order to retain organizational effectiveness as per
the changing business environment and demands of the employees as well as customers. This
report has been helpful in defining and developing an understanding regarding three main
leadership competencies that could be applied in PepsiCo to achieve all its current needs and to
provide support for changing organizational structure and operations of one of their important
departments. All the three separate leadership skills have been explained critically, which
delivering the fact that these leadership skills are appropriate for this organization as well as
important for all other companies to manage and develop an efficient workforce and provide
them training according to their requirements.
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