2.1 Understanding Management, Leadership And Decision Making Flashcards
What is leadership?
A relationship through which one influences the behaviour or actions of other people
Different perspectives of leadership
Traditional view:
Command and control
Decision making
Modern view:
Inspiring employees
Creating a vision
Shaping core values & culture
Building effective teams
Why leadership is increasingly important in business?
Changing organisational structure:
Flatter + greater delegation
Teamwork + focus of quality assurance
Coaching, support and empowerment
Rapid change:
Change is becoming constant feature of business life
Soft skills and leadership management are increasingly important
Distinction between managers and leadership
Leaders:
Inspire people, take risks, build relationships and have followers
Managers:
Enact the plan, use their authority, manage risks and have subordinates
Types of management and leadership styles
Authoritarian
Paternalistic
Democratic
Laissez-faire
Autocratic
Focus of power is with the manager
Communication is top down and one way
Formal systems of command and control
Use of rewards and penalties
Very little delegation
Paternalistic
Leader decides what is the best for employees
Akin to a parent/child relationship
Little delegation
Softer form of authoritarian leadership
Democratic
Focus of power is more with the group as a whole
Leadership functions are shared within a group
Employees have greater involvement in decision making
Emphasis on delegations and consultation
A trade off between speed of decision making snd better motivation and morale
Laissez-faire
Leader has very little input into day to day decision making
Conscious decision to delegate power
Managers/employees have freedom to do what they think it is the best
Effective when staff are ready and willing to take responsibility
Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum
A Continuum of leadership and behaviour
The continuum represents the range of actions related to the:
Degree of authority used by managers
Area of Freedom available to non-managers
Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum
Four main styles of leadership
Tells: leader identifies problems, makes decisions and announces to subordinates; expects implementation
Sells: leader still makes decision, but attempts to overcome resistance through discussion and persuasion
Consults: leader identifies a problem and presents it to the group. Listens to advice before making a decision
Joins: leader defines the problem and passes on the solving & decision making to the group
Influences on management and leadership styles
influence by:
Personal value system
Managers experience
Confidence in subordinates
Feeling of security
Nature of business problems
Type of organisations (size & structure)
Effectiveness of teams and groups
Skills and experience of subordinates
Pressure (time and costs)
The effectiveness of different management and leadership styles
The culture of the organisation
The organisational structure - e.g., in a centralised structure, autocratic leadership style may be more effective.
The quality of staff - democratic
Types of decisions that need to be made
