Leadership
Blog 4
Identify
the differences between management and leadership
Leadership and management have a variety of thing in
common. Despite this they are completely separate entities. Mullins (2010) said
“Leadership occurs on many different levels and in many different ways. Not all
leaders are managers.” (University, n.d.) An integral role of a leader is to
always set a trail for others to follow.
(Pictures showing duck’s imprinting, the process
ware by they follow a leader.)
Forrest and Trolltree (1969) defined leaders as
people who motivate, generate ideas, enthuse and inspire people. Whereas
managers plan, control, co-ordinate, implement policy, all to achieve results.
Kotter (1990) distinguished the differences between
management and leadership. Kotter suggested that Management have the
responsibility to control and solve problems, organise things, encourage order
and predictability as well as plan a budget any money/resources available to
them. On the flip side of this Kotter believed leadership was meant to
encourage change, side with individuals who have a vision then establish a
direction to follow, all while motivating and inspiring the people who follow
them. Mullins (2007) has similar ideas concerning the differences between
leadership and management. Mullins thought that management was far more
impersonal that leadership, and that a leader is more likely to have a sense of
empathy(feeling) toward the people following the particular leader whereas
management generally show little emotion towards the people beneath them that
follow their instructions. Another difference is that management are always
planning their next move and organising what directions they should be heading
in staying one step ahead all the time keeping in complete control of every
situation presented to them. Leadership roles prefer to motive and encourage
people as situations arise, it is a more off the cuff approach that could be
seen to be more gung ho, that defines a leader from a manager.
Using
an organisation with which you are familiar, which could be a school or
college, identify the key leaders from the organisation and analyse why they
were effective leaders, with links back to one of the theories discussed in the
lecture.
Outside of university I work as a lifeguard and a
swimming teacher. I work for a major leisure chain called Fusion Lifestyle whom
own many leisure complexes across the south of England. To make the analysis of
my employer less complicated I am going to only focus on the individual centre
I am employed by and examine its internal Key leaders and their effectiveness.
The Key Leader at Isleworth recreation centre (IRC)
is Justin Davies. He is the centre manager and everyone else employed by IRC
must answer to the tasks set by Mr.Davies. Other key leaders at IRC are the
line management who are the go between the staff and the centre manager. Line
management play a key role in the functioning of the centre as they must
allocate duties to all of the employees at work and relay all information of
any happening’s to the centre manager. Some line managers are far better than others.
This may be linked to Adair’s theory that, “We are all born with the potential
to become leaders.” Among the work force at IRC there is a general consensus
that the line management are loved by the staff whereas our centre manager is
disliked. This may have something to do with the leadership style’s both sets
of management employ.
The picture above shows the rage between an
Autocratic leadership style and a Democratic leadership style according to
Tannenbaum and Schmidt (1958).
The centre manager’s leadership style is very
autocratic as he makes all the decisions and imposes his authority over all of
the employees as a show of power. As know body likes to be told what to do this
is probably why the centre manager is disliked by many. Despite being dislike because
of this leadership style, you would not want to change his style as you need a
balance between autocratic and democratic leadership when running a successful
business. Line management adopt a far more democratic approach this may be to balance
out the centre managers style but it also help their position as the middle
man, as a more democratic leadership style allows them to consult and present
problems with suggestions on what decisions need to be made to solve and
issues.
Line management are effective leaders also because
they fit Adair’s Contingency Approach. (shown Below)
They follow the modern ideas that leadership should
be less hierarchical it its structure, and adopt a flatter more team based
approach. Line managers are effective leaders as the balance tasks, individual
need and team maintenance all at once. This far more flexible approach gives
them the advantage of working well among a ‘Collegiate Organisation’, (Bennis
and Nanus 21st Century Leadership).
Remember
to include a conclusion and evaluation at the end of this topic area on leadership
Leadership
is far more complex in the 21st century than it ever used to be. It
is a monumental task to identify what type of leader you are and what type of
leadership will best suit you and the situation you are confronted with.
Leadership is no longer an informal position held by an individual who make the
odd decision that affects their following. Leaders in the modern day are seen
as a mentor, coach with the ability to create and teach as if part of a
learning organisation. Globalisation has played a huge role in the change of
perceptions of what it means to be a leader. But despite this a common consensus
is still held that Adair’s theory that, we are not
born leader, but we are all born with the potential to become leaders.” Is and
will always be a true statement.
Bibliography
University, B. (n.d.) [Powerpoint Document].
[Accessed: 6 Febuary 2012].
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