managers, leadership and decision making Flashcards
what is a leader?
inspires people, build relationships, takes risks, has followers.
a relationship through which one person influences the behaviour or actions of other people.
what is a manager?
enact the plan, use their authority, manage risks, have subordinates.
why is leadership important?
greater delegation, teamwork, support, soft skills of leadership
what is an autocratic leadership style?
communication is top down and one way, formal systems of command and control, use of reward and penalties, very little delegation.
advantages - helps give a clear message to all staff, managers are responsible for a large amount of unskilled workers.
disadvantages - staff become dependant of the leaders, don’t use initiative, senior managers are often overlooked, large numbers of staff may leave.
what is a paternalistic leadership style?
addressing the employees needs, like parent/child relationship, a softer form of autocratic leadership.
advantages - high loyalty due to being heard and there needs met, more motivated staff turnover.
disadvantages - employees can become too dependant on employer, little delegation passed down to subordinates.
what is a democratic leadership style?
leadership functions are shared within a group, employees have a greater involvement in decisions, emphasis on delegation and consultation, a trade off between speed of decision making and better motivation and morale.
advantages - employees have low dependancy on their leaders, offers constructive ideas and suggestions and gain great satisfaction from this.
disadvantages - may make decision making slower as a result of having more motivated staff, need staff to be skilled and free thinking and have some experience.
what is a laissez-faire leadership style?
leader has little input into day to day decision making conscious decisions to delegate power, managers have freedom to do what they think is best, effective when staff are ready and willing to take on responsibility.
advantages - gives staff ability to show their capabilities, may work for a highly creative team, highly independent staff who are willing to voice their opinion.
disadvantages - organisation can lack a sense of direction, lack of coordination and planning, may depend on the staff.
factors affecting leadership styles
personal value system, managers experiences, confidence in subordinates, feelings of security, nature of the business problems, type of organisation, effectiveness of team and groups, skills and experiences, pressure.
what are the 4 main styles of leadership?
tells, sells, consults, joins
what is tells?
leadership identifies problem, makes decision and announces to subordinates and expects implementation
what is sells?
leader still makes decisions but attempts to overcome resistance through discussions
what is consults?
leader identifies problem and presents it to the group, listens to advice and suggestions before making a decision.
what is joins?
leader defines the problem and passes on the solving and decision making to the group.
what is a hunch?
based on intuition, gut feel and experience, is quick, hard to justify for business decisions involving significant risk.
what is scientific decision making?
based on data and analysis, time consuming and costly, no guarantee of the right decision, increasingly common and automated supported by big data and data analysis.
involves making decisions based on evidence and adopting a systematic approach rather than intuition.
