ENCOURAGING LEADERSHIP OVER MANAGEMENT: ANALYSIS OF EXISTING TECHNIQUES
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ENCOURAGING LEADERSHIP OVER MANAGEMENT: ANALYSIS OF EXISTING TECHNIQUES (RESEARCH PROPOSAL)
Introduction
Leadership over management is one of the hottest topic discussed in the business management platform according to a Google research (Mendoza, 2016)
Leaders and managers have different roles and use different techniques to work with their colleagues and ways on how to take charge and show their control over them.
There is a difference which should be clarified between managing and leading. In this paper, I will focus on understanding what leadership and management is and further get down to the difference between the two. This will be a means of understanding how businesses integrate between the two to create a functional unit. I will engage in an analysis by making use of primary questionnaires and secondary data to get my information. By the end of this paper, you shall be in a position to analyse the existing techniques that encourage leadership over management. Methodology:
The research was conduct in order to better understand what are those techniques that businesses use to encourage leadership over management and do they apply them. In addition, the research will show how both of those styles differ from each other.
Methodology
My sample group will be teachers and other employees from OnCampus. I chose them because it’s the only available business that I can easily access. I could be using primary research for my friends or other university students, as most of them are not working in the firms, therefore it would be wrong to target that group. In addition, I will also try to ask a few course leaders, what techniques do they use in order to encourage leadership in their business.
The research will be based mostly on secondary research sources. This means that I used different sources of secondary research. The main website where I will be getting my information from is http://locate.coventry.ac.uk/ (which is an online Coventry university library) As it was mentioned before the topic I chose is very popular and therefore there are lots of sources for different aspects of the topic and therefore there shouldn’t be any issues with researching.
One of them will be books. I will be reading and using books and highlight the main information from the books, such as some key ideas/definitions and possible some famous quotes relating to my topic.
Another source of secondary research will be Articles. This is where I got some information about some previous researches that have been done. It is also useful to use an articles because everything is summarised in there and it might give you a basic understanding for what are you actually research about.
Lastly, the last source of my information will be internet blogs and other trusted information from internet, like pictures or graphs. It could be dangerous to use this source, however in sake of faithful research conclusion, I have to get completed information and therefore I will try to use as less internet source as possible in my further research.
However, I still used some primary research as its an essential part of the research project that I am doing. One of the sources of primary research that I will be using is questionnaires. Questionnaires was given out to the target sample group and they gave me an idea of what people think about the certain question.
The second primary research source that I used is interviews. I have interviewed a few people also from OnCampus.
Below is an interview that I had with two leaders in the Coventry University on campus foundation year showing their views on leadership and management;
Primary and Secondary research analysis
Richard (Course leader of Business Management)
1) As a leader are you more democratic or autocratic ?
Democratic- cause autocratic doesn’t achieve anything, effect of short period of time, democratic brings more results in long period of time.
2) Do you think that the leadership should be encouraged over management?
Leadership- cause very few leader usually is in the business, cause its harder to be a leader as you have to have natural leadership skills. Leaders create strategies for the future, more leaders more chances for organization to be successful.
3) How does it happen in your business?
Yes they are encouraged.
Champion their subject by enthusiasm, however business also needs management to keep the scheme of work and keep up with their standards of work.
4) Do leaders or manager get trained in your business?
There is a Job description that explains you a lot, Job experience needed for the position of leader (which Richard had).
Leadership can’t be taught, whereas management can be (in some ways)
Jilly (Course leader)
1) As a leader are you more democratic or autocratic?
Jilly: Democratic. I want to hear other ideas from people with more areas of expertise. I need to know other facts before making a decision.
2) Do you think that the leadership should be encouraged over management?
Jilly: Good leader will inspire to manage things properly, but management makes everything fall into place
3) How does it happen in your business?
Jilly: Show dedication and enthusiasm. It makes others to feel the same.
4) Do leaders or manager get trained in your business?
Jilly: Management training, leadership comes from personality you can become a good manager but can’t become a good leader. However, they do bit training
As seen in the above interview, both the course leaders agree that it is best for leadership to be encouraged over management. They both seem to agree that leadership is a quality that one acquires and not taught. This study enforces the reality on leadership in today’s society. Many people become good businessmen after lots of study but fail when it comes to leadership. No matter how good you are as a business person, without the appropriate leadership skills, you cannot seem to find ways to make your business better.
In a simple way, managing could be considered as the process of ‘sense-making’ understanding the situation and appreciating the necessity of organizing resources to achieve objectives. Leading is more oriented toward ‘sense-giving’ helping people to understand objectives, inspiring them to achieve a higher performance through commitment to a vision and guiding them along the journey to overcoming obstacles (Burke 2014)
A leader is not always someone who does paperwork and sits down the whole day around them. A leader is the person who respects and trusts his employees are the most important. Unlike the manager, the leader is the person who holds the big picture of the business. However, this does not mean that managers are not important, because the day-to-day workings of the office would be in disarray without a manager (Brown, 2010). For us to understand what being a leader entails, we have to know what leadership is. The definition of leadership has been very subjective having no correct definition. However, leadership can be identified through three dimensions. In many of the definitions given about leadership, it is seen to touch on influence. Yukl (2002) says that many people have assumed leadership to have a sort of social influence that is shown by one person over a group of people having a say in their activities and relationship. Leadership may also be associated with values. Day Harris and Hadfield’s (2001) came to a conclusion that for one to be a great leader they have to be in a position to communicate a clear set of personal and educational values. Additionally, leadership has also been associated with being visionary. Great leaders have for a long time been recognised as visionary men in the society.
The current emphasis on vision in leadership can be misleading. Vision can blind leaders in a number of ways…The high-powered, charismatic principal who ‘radically transforms the high school’ in four or five years can…be blinding and misleading as a role model…my hypothesis would be that most schools decline after the leaders leaves…Principals are blinded by their own vision when they feel that they must manipulate the teachers and the school culture to conform to it (Ibid., p.19).
Another primary research was carried out between 5 foundation OnCampus teachers, they were given out questionnaire. The findings were very enlightening. 99% of those involved in the questionnaire are on the thought that leadership should be emphasised more in businesses that management. All the respondents in the questionnaire were for the idea that a leader should be diplomatic and not autocratic with all of them still preferring a consultative manager to an autocratic manager. Two of the five respondents questioned thought that the most important quality for a leader to acquire was great communication skills while another two gave the opinion that a good leader should be in a position to inspire others to do certain tasks. Only one person said that a great leader should be able to delegate duties. There is no question that the respondents answered wrongly although, according to the research above it is important to emphasise that even with the push for leadership to be encouraged over management, it is crucial to understand that this is not so as to undermine management.
Below you can see some graphs that show all the questionnaire results:
The respondents were asked about the most important qualities that manager should have. However; there were four options given to the participants, the results shows that 20 per cent of them stated creativity, 20 per cent said structure, and 0 per cent stated knowledge while 60 per cent of the participants declared commitment. Thus, it is indicated that most of the respondents stated that commitment is the most important qualities that manager should have. The Workers Compliance / Accountability Record measured the degree to which representatives were satisfied with the association, their confidence in the association, their sense of duty with regard to the stay and to go the extra mile. By bringing together the data from these consolidated leadership practices and compliance levels / service representative, he ended up separating clearl
By inspiring you to do a work By setting you a clear target and being strict
80% 20%
It is asked from the participants about how they get better motivate by their leaders. Thus, two options were given to them, the results shows that 80 per cent of the participants said by inspiring to do a work while only 20 per cent of them said by setting clear target and being strict. It is found from past studies that Leaders who are viable to move and others have an inspiring abnormal state of vitality and excitement. They energize your group to achieve ambitious goals and increase the level of execution of each in the group. Many executives focus on carrying out the races of their intended game responsibilities while neglecting to wake up. It is an oversight. The demotivated workers make a sufficient demonstration on. However, when motivation is concentration, leaders open up an extra level of effort and vitality that can have the effect between hierarchical realization and disappointment. The fact of the matter is that each leader must find approaches to move their representatives to superior execution.
Autocratic Democratic
0% 100%
The respondents were asked about the style of leadership they want their leader to use. However; two options were given to the participants. The results shows that no one responded autocratic style, all of the participants stated democratic style of leadership they want their leader to use. The style of democratic leadership depends on the common consideration. It is often linked to participatory leadership because it requires a coordinated effort between leaders and the general population they deal with. Democratic / participative leadership duty style makes remarkable leaders and their staff. This applies to all associations – from private companies and government agencies to educational institutions and non-profit elements.
Yes No
80% 20%
The respondents were asked about their thinking that leadership rather than management should be encouraged in the business. There were two options given to the participants includes yes and no. the results shows that 80 per cent of the respondents said yes while only 20 per cent of the respondents stated no. therefore, it is indicated that most of the respondents were agreed that leadership rather than management should be encouraged in the businesses.
Management on the other hand is a term that is widely used in Britain, Africa and Europe. Follett (1941) describes management as a way of getting things done. Henri Fayol (1949) further describes management by saying it to be either organising, co-ordinating, commanding, planning or taking charge. Leading and managing are very different but both very crucial. One of the previous studies showed that it is more difficult to pick out a good manager than a good leader. One of the reasons is that manager, is the person who would always be able to complete given work on time and with a high quality, however those people could always be expected to be a good leaders as well, as they may not be able to organise groups or meetings sometimes.
Leaders would be almost opposite of managers, they always have to be able to organise and lead people after them. Unfortunately if you give a leader a manager’s position and responsibilities, in most cases they will not be able to co-operate with them. Although in the most cases leader will struggle with manager’s responsibilities, it is still possible to meet along a person that will be able to handle both roles at the same time and however it is rare to meet those types of people.
For management, there is a step by step process that goes along with it. This includes;
This involves choosing a course of action in order to achieve the set goals by the organisation.
It involves making decisions regarding what is to be done, when, how and by whom
These decisions are both long term and short term
Just as the term suggests, it entails grouping of jobs to enable better coordination
The structure in which an organisation is grouped is based on the function, the geography, the customer and the product.
There has been a continuous change in the structure of business organisations due to the different environments, markets and technology in place.
This is the acquiring of new employees in an organisation. This job is undertaken by the human resource office.
This process involves performing duties like job vetting, analysis, job training, teamwork training and disciplinary procedure.
This is indeed the most important work that lies under management.
It signifies the difference between those in higher chains and those in the lower chain who receive commands on what to do
This is the last bit in the steps of management of a business entity.
The purpose of this is to ensure that every sector of an organisation runs smoothly.
Leadership strategies on the other hand are important since they tell of how a leaders personal style of leadership. Being good in management is not good enough in the running of an organisation. Having appropriate leadership strategies will go a long way to helping the organisation attain its goals and objectives. There are four basic leadership styles that you may decide to apply into your business or organisation.
Autocratic Leadership style
This is a rather traditional approach to leadership where those in managerial power retain much of the power and authority as possible. They do not consult anyone and once they pass orders they expect them to be followed without question. These types of leaders usually rely on threats to get their message heard. They often have a hard time accepting any employ insight offered. Though this type of leadership style sound very negative, it can come i handy when the power of the one in charge is threatened by the staff. It can also be used when the staff does not respond to any of the other leadership styles. However, this method of leadership leads to low workplace morale, increase in resentment among workmates.
Democratic Leadership style
This kind of leadership is where the staff is encourages to participate in the decision making process. Here the management shares everything in relation to the working situation of the staff encouraging a united problem solving. Even with all the openness present in this method of leadership, the leader or manager still retains the final decision. This method of leadership quite advantageous since a good vibe is created at the workplace encouraging better associations between workmates and the productivity increases. This kind of leader recognises growth of his or her workmate and encourages them to keep going higher and performing better. This method of leadership is highly effective when working with people that are well experience with the job at hand. However, this method of leadership is not applicable in all situations. An example is if there is a risk on the security of a staff member.
Bureaucratic Leadership Style
This form of leadership describes the leaders that always follow the instructions that govern the organisation and don’t even bend the rules even for themselves. If their authority does not allow them to do anything, you are referred to the next level above. This form of leadership is especially best used in firms or organisations that deal with cash or one which safety and security training is done regularly.
The Laissez-Faire Leadership Style
This type of leadership style is one used in organisations where the staff is highly skilled, experienced and does not need supervision at all. Here the manager is more like a title with a bigger pay check and nothing more. The authority all belongs to the staffs that make their own decisions, plans and goals to achieve.
There are other forms of leadership style that do not fall under these categories. I will briefly touch on the in order to increase the familiarity on the subject and to further understand the importance of these leadership styles in management.
Conclusion
In conclusion, management is at the same level of importance to leadership. A leader cannot do the job of a trained manager without strain. The only reason leadership is given so much stress is because leadership is not taught through following a certain formula. Leadership comes more naturally. As seen above, leadership can be demonstrated through various styles. Autonomic leaders as discovered are those who rule by the fist and nobody seems to enjoy working under such a manager.
Management is very important in the running of day to day business but leadership is way important since with it, the manager becomes visionary and can lead that business to far new heights. Even though, there are plenty of leadership style available and a manager cannot use them all to control his business. He or she should learn to adjust to different styles of leadership based on the situation he finds himself in. Weathersby (1999) notes that, “leaders need to know and control their own emotions, recognize and guide emotions in others and motivate themselves to attack some of the knotty challenges their organisations face, such as adopting a culture of dynamic change in dismantling a hierarchical management model.” Additionally, by focusing more on the process and the workmates as well as recognising individual capabilities and congratulating good performance then one can be recognised as a good manager and a better leader.
References
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Burke, RBS 2014, Project Management Leadership, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, Somerset. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [2 March 2017].)
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