3.2.1 Understanding management, leadership, and decision making Flashcards
What is a manager’s role?
their role is to plan, organise, and coordinate people and resources to follow orders
What do leaders do?
decide on a direction for the firm and inspire & motivate staff to achieve aims that are set
What are employees to both managers and leaders
Managers have employees as subordinates but leaders have employees as followers
Explain the roles of managers
- Setting objectives (e.g. attendance, financial and growth)
- Analysing (e.g. analyse data for future decisions)
- Leading (e.g. human resources, staff attendance, duties, qualifications)
- Making decisions (e.g. rewards, expansion)
- Reviewing (e.g. appraisals, decision making)
What are influences on management and leadership styles?
List them:
- Company structure and the span of control
- Particular situation
- Organisational culture and structure
- Nature of the tasks involved
- Employees and their skills & abilities
- Group size
- Personalities and skills of managers and leaders
- Time frame
What are the leadership styles?
- Authoritarian
- Democratic
- Paternalistic
- Laissez-faire
Explain the authoritarian approach to leadership
- Autocratic leaders hold onto as much power and decision-making as possible
- Focus of power is with the manager
- Communication is top-down & one-way
- Formal systems of command & control
- Minimal consultation
- Use of rewards & penalties
- Very little delegation
- Most likely to be used when subordinates are unskilled, not trusted and their ideas are not valued
Explain the democratic approach to leadership
- Focus of power is more with the group as a whole
- Leadership functions are shared within the group
- Employees have greater involvement in decision-making – but potentially this slows-down decision-making
- Emphasis on delegation and consultation – but the leader still has the final say
- Perhaps the most popular leadership style because of the positive emotional connotations of acting democratically
- A potential trade-off between speed of decision-making and better motivation and morale?
- Likely to be most effective when used with skilled, free-thinking and experienced subordinates
Explain the paternalistic approach to leadership
- Leader decides what is best for employees
- Addressing employee needs
- Akin to a parent/child relationship – where the leader is seen as a “father-figure”
- Still little delegation
- A softer form of authoritarian leadership, which often results in better employee motivation and lower staff turnover
- Typical paternalistic leader explains the specific reason as to why he has taken certain actions
Explain the laissez-faire approach to leadership
- Laissez-faire means to “leave alone”
- Leader has little input into day-to-day decision-making
- Conscious decision to delegate power
- Managers / employees have freedom to do what they think is best
- Often criticised for resulting in poor role definition for managers
- Effective when staff are ready and willing to take on responsibility, they are motivated, and can be trusted to do their jobs
What are the two management theories?
Tannenbaum-Schmidt Continuum Theory
The Blake Mouton Grid
What does the Tannenbaum Schmidt Continuum look like?
What are the axes on the T-C Continuum?
Degree of authority used by the leader or manager
Area of freedom available to non-managers
What four main styles of leadership are identified in the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum of Leadership?
- Tells – leader identifies problems, makes decision and announces to subordinates; expects implementation
- Sells – leader still makes decision, but attempts to overcome resistance through discussion & persuasion
- Consults – leader identifies problem and presents it to the group. Listens to advice and suggestions before making a decision
- Delegates – leader defines the problem and passes on the solving & decision-making to the group (which manager is part of)
What does the Blake Mouton Grid look like?
Explain each style of the Blake Mouton Grid
