Managers, Leadership and Decision Making Flashcards
What is management?
Implementing strategies needed to achieve business objectives by organising and galvanizing employees.
What should managers do?
- Set clear objectives that staff beleive in
- Find the right team for meeting the objectives
- Help ensure that all staff are motivated via delegation
- Prepare staff for change
What do the roles of managers include?
- Setting objectives
- Analysing
- Leading
- Making decisions
- Reviewing
What are the 4 different types of leadership?
- Autocratic
- Democratic
- Laissez faire
- Paternalistic
Describe an autocratic leader?
- Leader makes decisions without reference to anyone else
- High degree of dependancy on the leader
- Can create de-motivation and alienation of staff
- Decisions are made quickly
Describe a democratic leader?
- Encourages decision making from different perspectives
- Leaders consult before decisions are made
- May help motivation
- Workers feel ownership of their ideas
- Improves sharing of ideas
- Can delay decision making
Describe a laissez faire leader?
- Responsibilities are shared by all
- Can be useful in organisations where creative ideas are important
- Can be motivational as people have control over their working lives
- Can make decision making time consumingn and lacking in direction
- Relies on good teamwork and interpersonal relationships
Describe a paternalistic leader?
- Employees are consulted but leader makes all decisions
- Leader acts a father figure
- Close supervision but attempts are made to gain respect of staff
- Type of authoritarian manager but the manager attempts to look after the needs of subordinates
- Workers recognise that the manager is trying to support their needs
What are the factors that influence leadership styles?
- The task
- Tradition and culture of the organisation
- Type of labour force
- Skilled or unskilled
- Group size
- Leader’s personality
- Group’s personality
- Time availible to complete the task
- Company’s structure
What is the Tannenbaum Schmidt Continuum?
A model that highlights the range of different management styles that may be adopted, ranging from a ‘tell’ approach to one that involves delegation
What does the Tannenbaum Schmidt model highlight?
That there is a range of styles rather than categorising management and leadership simply in terms of authoritairan and democratic
When can you use the Tannenbaum Schmidt Continuum?
The influences and impact of different management and leadership styles
What is the Blake Mouton grid?
A model that highlights different management styles, accorording to their focus on the task and the people within the business
What leader has high concern for people and low concern for the task?
Country club leader
What leader has low concern for people and low concern for the task?
Impoverished
What type of leader has medium concern for people and the task?
Middle of the road leader
What type of leader has high concern for people and high concern for the task?
Team leader
What type of leader has high concern for the task and low concern for people?
Produce or perish leader
Describe a country club leader?
- Most concern for people
- If employees are happy they will work hard
- Finds it hard to punish employees
- Relationship between employee and leader is casual
Describe an impoverished leader?
- Least concern for people and production
- No system for getting work done
- Environment is not satisfying or motivating
- Disorganised work, disastisfied employees and lack of harmony
Describe a middle of the road leader?
- Balanced concern for both people and production
- Settles for average performance from employees
- Mediocre production and employee satisfaction
Describe a team leader.
- Stesses high production and employee satisfaction
- Employees who are satisfied will be committed to high production
- High trust levels
Describe a produce or perish leader?
- Employees are simply a means to an end
- Employee needs are always secondary to efficiency and productivity
- Autocratic
- Strict rules, policies and procedures
- Punishment is most effective way to motivate employees
What is intuitive decision making?
Using a combination of experience and a feel for the future
What is scientific decision making?
A systematic approach to collecting facts and applying logical decision making techniques
What are the advantages of intuitve decision making?
- Make decisions quickly
- Logic
- Qualitative
- More enthusiastic in decision
- Less costs
- Small businesses may not be able to access scientific methods
- More understanding
- Data may be unreliable or manipulated
What are the advantages of scientific decision making?
- Accurate
- Evidence
- Methodical
- Easier to explain to shareholders
- Forces lots of research
- Financial stability
- Keep reviewing / checking decisions
- Easier to obtain finances
