Leadership

In order to identify the differences between management and leadership, defining both terms is the best start. A manager is a "person or persons who control or direct a business or other enterprise" [Anon 2.] [n.d.]. A leader meanwhile is a person who rules, guides and or inspires others [Anon 2.] [n.d.].

To be a successful manager, an individual needs to have good leadership skills. The main fundamental difference between Management and Leadership is therefore the fact that Leadership is just one aspect of Management. However, “a manager cannot just be a leader, he also needs formal authority to be effective" [Anon. 2] [n.d.].

Another difference between Leadership and Management is that Managers control and solve problems e.g. a manager would employ someone that the business is in need of while Leaders do not control or solve problems generally. Instead, Leaders motivate and inspire people. For example, Leaders may carry out speeches that inspire a group or motivate a group by recognising their abilities or achievements. This shows that the roles of Managers and Leaders are different.

In addition, another difference between Leadership and Management is that Managers plan and budget e.g. cut costs by changing suppliers or cutting staff and a Leader establishes a direction e.g. introduces a new aim or objective for a group to focus on. This is another example that shows that the roles of Managers and Leaders are different.

Furthermore, another difference between Leadership and Management is that Managers organise things e.g. arrange meetings in the workplace and Leaders give people a vision e.g. by giving people in a group an idea of what they can accomplish. This is another difference between Management and Leadership. Additionally, another difference between Management and Leadership is that Managers encourage predictability and order e.g. make sure all employees are punctual and are working to an expected standard while Leaders encourage change e.g. input new ideas and or experiment with new ideas to a group. This is a further difference between Management and Leadership.

The 'Managerial Grid' is a straightforward framework that defines seven basic styles that describes workplace behaviour and the resulting relationships [Anon. 6] [n.d.]. The seven managerial grid styles are centred on how two fundamental interests (interest for people and interest for results) are exhibited at varying stages whenever people interact [Anon. 6] [n.d.].

The seven management grid styles are Controlling, Accommodating, Status Quo, Indifferent, Paternalistic, Opportunistic and Sound.

9,1 Controlling and Dominate (Direct and Dominate) - Managers with this style take control of the situation and expect great results. However, they aren't concerned at all for the people they are working with e.g. employees. These managers are authoritative.

1,9 Accommodating (Yield and Comply) - Managers with this style are concerned most about the people within the business. This type of Manager therefore do everything in their power to make tasks as pleasing to complete as possible for employees. They aren't concerned about the results at all however.

5,5 Status Quo (Balance and Compromise) - Managers with this style are both concerned about the well being of the people in the workplace and the results. This type of Manager don't like taking unnecessary risk but expect decent results all the same. They also take into account the views of others so they are accepted amongst the workforce.

1,1 Indifferent (Evade and Elude) - Managers with this style aren't interested in the results or the well being of the people in the work environment. They therefore distance themselves from the workers and from the responsibility / expectation of generating great results.

PAT Paternalistic (Prescribe and Guide) - Managers with this style define initiatives for themselves and others. They also support the workforce by offering appreciation and praise to those deserving of it. In addition, they dislike and discourage ideas that are the opposite or very different from their own ideas.

OPP Opportunistic (Exploit and Manipulate) - Managers with this style do there very best to convince others to their way of thinking if it privately benefits the Managers themselves. They tend to take an approach that works best in fulfilling their private needs.

9,9 Sound (Contribute and Commit) - Managers with this style take up team working that invites commitment and involvement. They also take into account all of the alternative views and facts to reach a shared understanding of the best solution [Anon. 6.] [n.d.].

Someone that I have worked for is the owner of FMY Chemist as work experience. I feel that the owner of FMY Chemist's leadership style is Authoritarian (Autocratic). I think that the owner of FMY Chemist would fit in the Controlling (9,1) style on Blake and Mouton's grid. This is because the owner of FMY Chemist took control of every decision that needed to be made and made decisions based on whether it would generate good results i.e. be good for business than if the employees would be most satisfied. For example, he would purchase products in bulk in order to get the advantage of 'economies of scale' to reduce the cost per unit because he would be reducing costs, not because it would satisfy the needs of the employees.

This is how he went about business in general, with results coming first and the needs of the employees coming second. This is why the owner of FMY Chemist fits in the Controlling (9,1) style on Blake and Mouton's grid rather than another style e.g. the Accommodating (1,9) style as the Accommodating style takes into consideration the people's needs opting to make decisions based on the needs of the workers rather than the results (which is the complete opposite with the owner of FMY Chemist).

Martin Luther King is a strong leader that was discussed in the lecture. Martin Luther King was a strong leader for many reasons. One of the main reasons why Martin Luther King was a strong leader was King’s ability to inspire people through his great orator skills. Not only did King inspire black people with his powerful speeches such as his “I have a dream” speech, he inspired people of all ethnic backgrounds e.g. European and Asian people. Even though lots of leaders have the skill of being able to inspire people, their aren’t many people that are or were able to inspire people on the same level as King whether we are talking about the sheer number of people or the different types of people inspired by him. In almost all of King’s speeches, he displayed a degree of confidence that I feel lots of different people felt inspired by to make a statement and a vital change in racial policy. King also wasn’t afraid to take charge when it was necessary as it seemed like King was one of the few to really stand up for what is right and wrong showing his mental and physical endurance during speeches. This is one of the reasons why I feel King wasn’t just a “quite strong” leader but a “very strong” leader.

Another reason why I think that King was a strong leader was the fact that King was very forward looking. Instead of dwelling on the past and being nostalgic, King was always setting aims and looking into the future. The best example of this was King’s “I have a dream” speech. I personally feel King’s forward looking approach motivated people in getting behind King and change the future (which they did) because the people knew that change wasn’t going to happen if the past was being constantly looked into. The people needed someone that took seriously the need for change and King filled that role flawlessly. This shows that King was a strong leader.

Additionally, a further reason why I feel King was a strong leader is because King was competent enough to be a leader. For example, King wasn’t childish and acted like an adult at all times. His emotional feelings for example could have gotten the better of him at various times bearing in mind the seriousness of the racial situation at this point, but he never showed any form of weakness as a leader and was highly professional at all times. I think that this is one of the reasons why he got support early in his career as people began to recognise that this is someone that should be representing them as a race. This also shows that King was a strong leader.

Furthermore, another reason why I believe that King was a strong leader is because King was an honest man. At the moment in the UK, there is a strong perception that people in government are dishonest because many of them are claiming expenses on things they shouldn’t be. I’m sure there was a strong sense of corruption as well in politics during King’s time; however there is no doubt that King was brutally honest. Despite the fact that honesty may sometimes work against people in politics and people in general, there is no question that King displayed integrity and sincerity in all of his actions with deceptive behaviour not being one of King’s attributes. I believe that people recognised King as a “what you see is what you get” type person because they could have easily seen through someone that was dishonest. King on the other hand wasn’t one of these people and was true to himself always. I think that this shows that King was a strong leader because it helped keep his supporters united with the same goals.

In addition, a further reason why I consider King to be a strong leader is because King was fair-minded. Despite the fact that King could have taken a more extremist viewpoint on the subject of racial inequality, using violence if he felt necessary, King was always fair to everyone including white people (who you could argue were the main obstacles to change at that point). In spite of the fact that Black people were being prejudice against, King never responded by being prejudice to white people. King could have easily risen to the bait, but he was always strong enough not to get caught up in the moment. I think that this shows that King was a strong leader because if he was being unfair, his stance on equality and his campaign in general would have lost credibility, which would have lost him much needed support. If he were losing support, he would be failing as a leader. King however was fair at all times, which kept his established support and increased his support to new people. This is an additional reason why I think that King was a strong leader.

A further reason why I think that King was a strong leader is the fact that he was very courageous. It’s difficult to imagine racial inequality on a legal basis today, but back when King was campaigning, all the odds were against him. King was extremely courageous not only because King and his supporters were the minority but the fact that King was taking a non-violent peaceful approach which may have been more risky than if he took a violent approach. It’s common knowledge that it’s more difficult to make a statement without violence than with violence so it took King a lot of courage too not only make a significant change successfully, but also make a significant change peacefully. This is a reason why I think that King was a strong leader.

In Conclusion and Evaluation, one of the main findings that I got from this topic is learning the difference between leadership and management. Although I was already aware of some of the similarities between leadership and management, I never knew the difference between a Manager and a Leader until I finished the topic.

Another finding that I got from this topic is learning what the ‘managerial grid’ is and where my former boss (at FMY Chemist) would fit on the ‘managerial grid’. This is something that I’ve learned from this topic.

In addition, another finding that I got from this topic is learning about who are examples of strong leaders. The main leader of which I have found out information about regarding his leadership is Martin Luther King. I have learnt a great deal of information about King’s leadership, a lot of which is mentioned in this blog.

Even though I was already aware of a lot of things regarding Leadership before I took this topic (as I did Business Studies as one of my A levels), I feel I have learnt quite a lot of new information regarding Leadership as a whole. I am therefore very pleased with what I've learnt from this topic overall.

References:

[Anon. 1] [n.d.] Leadership [online]. [s.n.] Available from:http://www.businessballs.com/leadership.htm [Accessed 27 October 2009].

[Anon. 2] [1997] The Difference Between Management and Leadership [online]. [s.n.] Available from: http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/ME96/index.html?http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/ME96/index.html [Accessed 27 October 2009].

[Anon. 3] [n.d.] [n.k.] [online]. [s.n.] Available from:http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=management [Accessed 27 October 2009].

[Anon. 4] [n.d.] [n.k.] [online]. [s.n.] Available from:http://www.answers.com/topic/management [Accessed 29 October 2009].

[Anon. 5] [n.d.] [n.k.] [online]. [s.n.] Available from:http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=leader [Accessed 29 October 2009].

[Anon. 6] [n.d.] [n.k.] [online]. [s.n.] Available from:http://www.gridinternational.com/gridtheory.html [ Accessed 30 October 2009].

Image round table - http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/bad-leadership-causes-failed-it.jpg [Accessed 27 October 2009].

Managerial Grid image. Available from: http://www.gridinternational.com/gridtheory.html [Accessed 30 October 2009].