Tuesday 4 May 2010

Week 5 Leadership

Management and leadership tend to be classed together; however, they are different in some aspects. Managers have a title and authority in the organisation and a series of functions that they must perform. Managers implement policies, plans and command and control the activities of staff in order to achieve results.

On the other hand leaders may not have a title or authority. They aim to influence, guide and motivate group members.

There are three main styles of leadership. These are:






· Autocratic Leadership:


When the leader has authority over everyone and it is strict leadership.They do not tend to take into account employees views and opinions





· Democratic Leadership:


When leaders listen to employees views and opinions before making decisions and give them responsibility, control and involvement





· Laissez-Faire:


When the leader has low intervention. They let you manage things in your own way and get on with the tasks as you wish.











Blake & Mouton’s Managerial Grid





·In 1964 Robert Blake and Jane Mouton developed a model that provides a basis for comparisons of managerial style in terms of two principal dimensions.



“Concern for production”


“Concern for employees”

Concern for production refers to the amount of emphasis the manager places on accomplishing the task by achieving a high level of production and getting results or profit. This will be presented along the horizontal axis of the Managerial Grid.



Concern for people in contrast is the amount of emphasis the manager has on his colleagues as individuals and their needs and expectations. This is represented on the vertical axis on the Managerial Grid.



The four corners and centre of the Grid provide five basic combinations of degree of concern for production in relation to the degree of concern for people. The managerial grid displays a framework in which managers can identify study and review their patterns of behaviour.



Blake and Mouton claim the Grid illustrates that the manager can obtain benefits maximising methods, which are both production and people, orientated. The 9,9 position is the theoretical, ideal situation but is still worth working towards.




9.1
Authority Compliance Management
Managers in this position have great concern for production and little concern for people. People are seen as ‘tools’ for production. They demand tight control in order to complete tasks efficiently. They consider creativity and human relations to be unnecessary.




1.9
Country club Management
Managers in this position have great concern for people and little concern for production. They try to avoid conflict and concentrate on being liked. To them the task is less important than interpersonal relations. Their goal is to keep people happy.




5.5
Middle of the road Management
Leaders in this position have medium concern for both people and production. They rely on tried and true techniques and avoid taking untested risks. They attempt to balance their concern for both, but not committed to strongly to either.




1.1
Impoverished
Management
This style is often referred to as laissez- faire. Leaders in this position have little concern for people or productivity. They avoid taking sides and stay out of conflicts.




9.9
Team Management
These managers demonstrate high concern for both people and production. They work to motivate employees to reach their highest levels of accomplishment through teamwork. They are flexible and responsive to change. This style is that mangers should strive to achieve.









* Concern for People – This is the degree to which a leader considers the needs of team members, their interests, and areas of personal development when deciding how best to accomplish a task

* Concern for Production – This is the degree to which a leader emphasizes concrete objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best to accomplish a task.

http://www.coachingcosmos.com/34.html
AVAILABLE FROM COACHINH COSMO 2010

I am going to explain the managerial grid developed by Blake and Mouton. The grid shows how different managers behave, what actions they take and how much say they have. Some managers are production orientated and some are customer. The grid shows the leadership styles of different managers. This shows where both the effective leader and and a poor ;eader fit. I think John Terry is a great leader of Chelsea and should be England's captain. This is because he is a great footballer aswell as a great leader.

http://blog.taragana.com/sports/2010/03/02/fit-rooney-hails-terry-as-a-great-leader-80659/

Conclusion

This topic over all has summarised the difference between a manager and a leader and also given us information what makes an effective leader. All the leadership skills are required to be an effective leader. Tthis topic this has shown me the differences between the two and what there job roles are.

Management and Leadership Theories

Situational Theory


This theory is all about the leader being made because of a situation, which has been created. This theory concentrates on a situation being developed from which someone has to take up the challenge even if he/she are not fully confident of doing so.

50 years ago Mary Parker came with the solution that when a situation is developed than all concerned with that situation should unite and make decisions collectively. There should be no one giving orders to subordinates. The situational leader should not act alone. But orders should be coming from the situation a company is in.

Leadership can be different in different situations

Situational Leaders have the following problems:

•Degree to which leaders can be trusted and liked by group members and their willingness to follow leaders guide.
•The degree to which the leader can exercise authority to influence rewards, punishments
•How the tasks are clearly defined and structured for the group and how they can carry it out.

Situational leader faces following situations:

•Very favourable: Which results in good leader, good member relations, structured tasks, strong position.
•Very unfavourable: This result in poor leader, poor member relations, unstructured tasks and weak positions.

3.2 Trait Theory

Trait theory believes that a leader can never be made, shaped into or trained to be a good leader. Leadership is something, which is already in someone. It believes people are born with skills, which make them effective leaders. No one can be shaped into an effective leader. Leaders are the ones, which show their ability to others from the start and have different thinking and positive approach to everything. It is someone who can easily work its way up without the help of anyone, entirely on its own ability. So, it’s completely the opposite of what situational theory is all about.

Limitations:

•Bound to be some subjective Judgement in determining who is regarded as good or successful leader.
•List of possible traits tends to be very long and there is not always agreement on the most important.

Basically this theory is where the leader has to be natural born with skills such as

• Good communication
• Commitment
• Knowledge
• Ambition
• Judgement
• Respect for others



I feel that the situational theory supports Asda as the management reacts according to the situation. For instance, during busier periods, tasks have to be completed as instructed regardless of whether the employee is happy about it or not. However, when the stores are not so busy the management is not so strict and allows members of staff to swap their tasks.

I also believe that as the contingency theory suggests ‘there is no single style of leadership appropriate to all situations’. Many organisations use one management and leadership style. It may be difficult for the management of organisation to manage or lead employees using more than one style, but it can be very useful in getting the work finished as well as motivating the employees and satisfying their needs. Both of these factors being covered at the same time would be very advantageous for any organisation in meeting their aims and objectives.


Management leadership style at Asda

After undertaking an interview with my assistant manager Susan Kyle (shelves), I discovered that the leadership style she follows in the organisation is democratic.

I believe McGregor’s theory can be applied very well within my company’s organisation. Both supervisors and managers within the organisation have all built very understanding, trusting relationship with all the subordinates.

It is clear that theory y managers would be inclined to adopt a democratic leadership style. Their natural approach would be to delegate authority to meet specific objectives. This is the particular leadership style that managers within Asda that they have adopted, although it may vary from time to time dependant on the situation, or individual employees.

The managers within Asda believe that the employees really enjoy their work, and that they want to contribute ideas and effort. As an employee of Asdas, I have come to realize that the managers involve employees in decisions more, and give us greater responsibility.

After working 4 months of working with the company, they promoted me to a supervisor, which indicates the fact that they had faith in me to take such responsibilities. Employees at Asda are not only money motivated, but they feel as part of a team, no one is an individual within this orgnaisation, everyone feels motivated and comfortable with one another. Teamwork within Asda maximizes staff satisfaction.

The key factors of team work within Asda:

  • Multi-skilled- everyone is able to do everyone else’s job.
  • Working together to meet shared objectives- packer at a checkout to speed up the process.

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