Blog 3-Analysis of Leadership

Analysis of Leadership and Management 

Leaders and managers are the words that often appear in business management. Leadership is a member of an organization, and through their position and personality charm, the leader affects employees. Leaders often serve their responsibilities, and most managers are often leaders, provided that they also fully perform the leadership responsibilities of management, including guidance, excitation, communication, and inspiration, and encourage employees to increase to higher productivity. level. Therefore, leadership and management are different, but they all play an important role in the development of the company.

Similarities and Differences between Management and Leadership

Leadership and management are two different concepts used to understand how to influence productivity among subordinates. Managing entails controlling them to accomplish particular goals. On the other hand, leadership focuses on the leader’s ability to motivate and influence subordinates positively (Algahtani, 2014). This influence is geared toward accomplishing a common goal. Managers give directions and expect them to be followed strictly. Leaders offer guidance and are more involved in helping others accomplish given directions. Accomplishing set goals such as performance levels is the common outcome expected in management and leadership. Managers are appointed or hired based on particular skills and expertise. Leaders are chosen due to their capability to lead others through influence, inspiration, and motivation. Managers are usually responsible for setting and transferring organizational goals, mission, and vision to everyone in the organization. Leaders set clear visions of how to work toward long-term organizational goals and objectives.

Most Effective Approach to Managing the Work of Subordinates

Leaders are more flexible in terms of adaptability to change. According to the situational leadership theory, there is no single leadership style suited for all organizations (Thompson & Glasø, 2015). In some cases, management can be more effective than leadership, especially where human interactions are minimal. Key factors to consider include the nature of interpersonal relationships, tasks, level of authority, and level of maturity. Social interactions and team-oriented tasks are suited for leaders. Strong authority and maturity levels are suited for managers. Given this research, leadership is better for managing the work of subordinates because of social interactions and leaders’ maturity levels. There are many leadership styles that could be effective to manage the subordinates such as transformational leadership and task-oriented leadership. However, the most effective leadership style is the situational leadership.

     

Situational leadership model is quite effective because this model more focuses on adjust management and leadership styles based on the change of situations of the company, so as to make the company and employees better to adjust to changing environment (Giessner et al., 2013). Another advantage of situational leadership is that it more help employees focus on both talents development and external environment changes, and use good vision and decision making abilities to help employees improve their work efficiency and performance in different situations. These leaders usually set up clear responsibility for different employees and use effective communication skills and encourage methods to motivate employees to achieve their goals successfully. However, the model is undermined by potential conflicts among team members. In addition, situational leadership could also make employees have high pressure in the workplace. 

                 

Response to the Point of View Suggested by the CMI.   

Following the above discussion, I would agree with the statement “there is no single ideal, as the best approach may vary according to circumstances and individual characteristics.” There are different organizational characteristics and personal attributes that determine the most appropriate approach to undertake to manage others’ work. Therefore, situational issues must be considered before implementing a leadership or management strategy. That is, the leadership style could also be changing based on the development of organizations. For example, in the start up stage of organizations, it would adopt the transformational leadership to promote innovations of the company and in the mature stage, it could adopt the team-oriented leadership style to enhance cooperation and growth of the company in a sustainable way. 

Examples of My Ideal Leaders

There are several leaders who fit the idea of how I would like to be led. The first is Jack Stahl, who was Coca-Cola’s president from 1978 to 2000. This was a period of huge success following the famous “I’d like to buy the world a coke” in 1971, a new Coca-Cola taste in 1985, and the polar bear campaign in 1993. He described himself as a situational leader and argued that such leaders can approach different circumstances and determine appropriate involvement levels (Style, 2016) The other leader is Phil Jackson, who is the most successful NBA coach having won 11 championships. He coached some of the best talent effectively, which proves his superior leadership skills (Lunenburg, 2011). These are leaders who assess the situation and make the best out of it. From this case, it can see that as the situational leaders, Jack Stahl has good vision and decision making abilities to influence subordinates. He could effectively take actions and make changes based on the change of external business environment to most motivate employees. In this way, the business could always develop based on effective business strategies and greatly engaged employees. 

Recommendations  and Ideal Team Leadership

When working in a team, I would want to be involved in decision-making to feel valued. This approach also encourages collaboration and the potential for positive interpersonal relationships (Giessner et al., 2013). I would also like some level of autonomy because it fosters creativity, which enhances my input toward team success. 

References

Algahtani, A. (2014). Are leadership and management different? A review. Journal of management policies and practices, 2(3), 71-82.

Giessner, S. R., Van Knippenberg, D., Van Ginkel, W., & Sleebos, E. (2013). Team-oriented leadership: The interactive effects of leader group prototypicality, accountability, and team identification. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(4), 658.

Lunenburg, F. C. (2011). Emotional intelligence in the workplace: Application to leadership. International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, 14(1), 1-6.

Style, M. E. L. (2016). Leadership and Ethics. Journal of Business Management, 2(7), 332-354.

Thompson, G., & Glasø, L. (2015). Situational leadership theory: A test from three perspectives. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.