Leadership and Management: A Comprehensive Overview

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ASSIGNMENT 1 LEADERSHIP AND
MANAGEMENT
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Contents
1-What is involved in being a successful leader?............................................................................3
2-Can good leadership be developed, and if so, how?....................................................................7
3-What distinguishes leadership from management?....................................................................10
4-What have you learnt about leadership from your own experiences, on this course and
elsewhere?......................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13
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1-What is involved in being a successful leader?
Leadership is a combination of various inbuilt traits and practices that are being possessed by an
individual in order to manage the team well and motivate the team well. This can also be one of
the great talents one can have in order to lead and motivate the fellow members. A good leader
not only has a good passion to work in the team but also has certain traits and qualities that make
them different from others. Their honesty and integrity are one of the major factor contributing to
the overall development of the team and making the performance as per the company standards.
These traits can be explained using the Big 5 personality test:
The big five is a broad category of personality traits that can help in the identification of positive
and negative traits in a leader, the major traits are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion,
agreeableness, and neuroticism. All of them have their own positive and negative sides that can
be understood as under:
Openness: These traits make a leader high in curiosity and interest. The leader has high
creativity and is more eager to learn new things and also motivates the team to learn new things
every day. With high openness, the leader becomes risk-taking and very adventurous. The
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negative thing is the low acceptance of failure and low patience that sometimes disturbs the
balance of the team (Neal, et. al.,2012).
Conscientiousness: The leader with a high proportion in this quality has high levels of
thoughtfulness, goal-directed behaviors and good impulse control. These leaders are very
mindful and highly organized and very good at planning. They help in the development of
effective behaviour that help to resolve the issues properly. But at the same time they take a lot
of time and do not settle for small issue and solutions, they stretch the work.
Extraversion: These leaders have a high level of excitement they possess sociability,
assertiveness talkativeness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness. These leaders are
much involved in the overall development of the team and they are very helpful in delivering
effective outcome from the research. These facilities help in making team outgoing and risk-
taking. But this attitude sometimes dominates the team and forces them to go beyond the overall
needs of the work and capability(Neal, et. al.,2012).
Agreeableness: These leaders are highly accepting and considerate to various values associated
with the team. They make the team kind and affectionate but at the same time, the tend to go
more into safe and comfortable zones leading to less effective ways.
Neuroticism: These leaders are usually sad, moody and emotional. This trait is not helpful to
develop an effective and productive team.
The major skills of a successful leader can be understood by Katz’s three skill approach:
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This theory says that there are three major skills in a leader that are technical, human and
conceptual. Depending upon the position of leader all these skills differs in all the section of
work and affects the performance.
Technical skills: The major skills which a leader has in this place includes proficient knowledge
of technical needs in the company for example knowledge of Java in it company. This skill helps
the leader to perform well and have a better understanding of the project thus they can guide the
team well. Mostly, supervisors, have high technical skills and they have good knowledge of
product needs and they give good guidance to the team (Acemoglu, 2012).
Human skills: Human skills are needed when the leader has to show their ability and
compatibility to deal with people and their needs. These skills develop trust and good bonding
among leaders and team members. Good human skills are shown in the HR department when the
manager wants to understand the feelings and expectations of an individual and help them to
perform accordingly. These skills develop an effective atmosphere in the company.
Conceptual Skill: These skills are mostly possessed by top management and individuals that
involves in the development of global ideas and develop vision and mission for the team. These
skills vary cognitive in nature, and helps in better development of overall individual and
development of a concept for work (Acemoglu, 2012).
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Limitations: The major limitation associated with this theory is that the development of any
skills is largely dependent on personal traits and individual observation. This model identifies
skills but fails to express the method to acquire those skills.
The leadership style for a successful leader can be understood using Leadership Styles (3-Style
Model) - Kurt Lewin
Authoritarian: In this style, the leader himself decides the overall needs of the project and does
not allow the team to give an idea in the project. They themselves create aims and objectives for
the team.
Participative: They are democratic in nature thus helps in taking effective changes and develop
effective communication with the team to participate in the overall project and give ideas onthe
project (Sarayreh, et. al., 2013).
Delegative: They gives whole responsibility to the group and team and helps in the guidance and
issues associated with the project.
The limitation associated with this approach is that it has different characteristics of the leader
depending on the personal behavior and acquired needs of the leader (Sarayreh, et. al., 2013).
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2-Can good leadership is developed, and if so, how?
Development of good leadership involves the development of a good leader that can be done
having some personal traits and some acquired traits in an individual. A good leadership quality
needs to have good vision and mission and can also help in making effective changes in the
development of individual factors associated with the company and development of team groups
and features. Good leadership can be developed by acquiring some skills, traits, and styles to be
applied in the work.
Leadership development traits using Stogdill’s Traits:
Stogdill believed that there can be a number of traits required in an individual to develop
effective leadership development among individuals and these traits are needed to be there when
an individual is born. The psychological focus of an individual is needed to have an effective
development of overall needs associated with the individual thus reflecting overall development
in an individual. The major skills that are needed in a leader are adaptable to situations and are
assertive and cooperative. They need to be alert about the social environment and ambitious in
nature to achieve effective values associated with the development of an individual. The
leadership trait needs to be dependent, energetic and dominant in order to have tolerance and
willingness to have effective judgment and attitude in the environment. They are needed to be
diplomatic and have good communication skills with good knowledge and determination with
the project (Penney, et. al., 2015). The leader is needed to have too and balanced emotional
stability and composer that can help in the quality to accept defeat and error associated with the
project and team and they are needed to be intellectual to understand broad needs of the
organization and make good areas of expertise and development in the company. The limitation
is the associated focus and determination in an individual to have these qualities to be a good
leader. The leader is needed to have most of these qualities to be successful and influential as
failing to meet any of them leads to regression in the behavior of an individual (Penney, et. al.,
2015).
The major skills required in successful leadership can be understood using Skills-based model:
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The skills that are required to be in the overall development of a leader include effective
distribution of the following skills:
Individual Attributes: These include the general cognitive ability in a leader and have good
reasoning power in any situation. They need to be crystalized to acquired skills over time and
motivated enough to motivate the team as well. They need to have an effective personality to
cope with any situation. These are inbuilt skills thus to inherit them a lot of focus is needed in an
individual (Drennan and Richey, 2012).
Competencies: A good leadership is needed to have good problem-solving skills and effective
knowledge about the subject leading to the effective development of social judgment and mental
scheme to deal with overall needs and behavior associated with them. This is needed to be well
aligned and acquired skill thus failing to meet them reduces the chances to be a powerful and
effective leader in an industry.
Leadership Outcomes: The outcomes of effective leadership should be logical and very
communicative in order to make sure there are good skills and knowledge associated with the
overall needs of the tram. They are needed to be self-motivated and hardworking to help the
team deliver effective output from the tasks.
Career Experiences: The experience that an individual acquires in the career helps them to
develop effective career and needs associated with the overall development programs and
associated values for the development of overall business in making changes associated with the
project and to apply skills associated with them (Drennan and Richey, 2012).
Environmental Influences: The success of a leader depends on external factors like available
technology, subordinates competencies', task complexity or communication quality.
Limitation: These skills are needed with full support and dedication failing to have them may
have the wrong impact on leadership.
The development of an effective leadership style can be understood using the Managerial Grid:
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The development of managerial grid is dependent on two major characteristics associated with
the leadership style, they are a concern for people that shows the need ofa leader to consider
needs of the team members, areas of personal needs and development. the concern for production
shows the focus on objectives, efficiency, and productivity associated with the development of
the organization and making changes accordingly. They have four major dimensions:
Country Club Style: They are more concerned about the needs and development of the people
ad they are more people-oriented. This fails to deliver an effective outcome to the company
(Hakan, et. al., 2013).
Produce or Perish Leadership: They are more focused on the production rather than delivering
effective sources associated with the people associated with them. This kind of leadership is
ineffective to learn about people’s needs (Hakan, et. al., 2013).
Impoverished Leadership: They are low in production and low in people concern, in any way
these leaders lack vision and motivation for the company and the employees.
Middle-Of-The-Road Leadership: They have a moderate focus on the people and moderate
focus on the production thus making fewer changes in production and development.
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Team Leadership: This is the best kind of leadership as the leader is well aligned with the team
and the product delivery needed to achieve goals (Hakan, et. al., 2013).
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3-What distinguishes leadership from management?
Management: Management can be understood as a set of principles that can be used in order to
apply various planning functions, organization and direction of work, harnessing financial,
physical and informational resources in order to have the effective and organized achievement of
goals.
Leadership: A leadership can be understood as art to motivate and help a group of people
towards a common goal in order to make sure there is an effective application of views and ideas
to deliver required results.
BASIS FOR
COMPARISON
LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT
Basis The leadership is based on the
application of trust between the
leader and the team thus helping
each other to know about the ideas
and needs associated with the project
and applying that mutually
(Algahtani, 2014)
The management is based on
controlling and handling the team
in a form so as to deal with the
overall outcomes associated with
the development of the project.
They are more based on
synchronized and set rules to be
adopted while working.
Emphasize on A leader is more of a people-
oriented person that emphasize on
inspiring and developing people.
They are more focused on the
development of effective means to
deal with the global scenario and
make the team capable to deal with
the changes.
The emphasis is more on the
management of activities and
associated values that can help in
the development of effective
values associated with the
development of individual ways
and performance associated with
the principles in the organization
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and making substantial changes in
the process involved.
Focus They are more focussed on change
development and encouragement
that can help in the development of
the team to develop creativity and
change in the process.
They want to bring stability in the
organization thus they do not
support much efforts and factors
associated with the development of
an individual and making changes
effectively in the process (Stacey,
2012).
Power They are influential and highly
motivating with the people in order
to understand the global aspect of
the people and their nature
associated with the organization.
They are capable enough to lead the
people and make them work
according to the associated needs of
the organization.
The management works on the
basis of rule and domination. The
openness to having new thoughts
and values is less and the seniors
are more into putting work in the
form of extracting maximum
output from the team and develop
an effective process associated
with the same. This needs to be
well aligned in the operation of the
company.
Strategy They have a highly energetic and
proactive strategy that can help in
the development of effective
measures associated with the overall
development of an individual and
making changes in the process
effectively. The strategy is highly
The strategy is not much planned
and though after they are mostly
reactive to the needs of the
situation and make a decision as a
reaction to the situation. They have
no future planning and aspiration
as they are focussed on managing
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