Understand Theories Of Leadership And Management Business Essay

According to Nienaber, leadership has a broad construct which has existed from the beginning where humankind has its first interaction, but management has been a practice since time became immemorial. Leadership can be defined as ability or a skill to organize a group of people to achieve a common goal where a leader may or may not have formal power or authority. There are many leadership theories which have been produced based on traits, functions, situational interaction, power, behaviour, vision and values, intelligence, charisma and many more. Management can be defined as an act of getting people together to achieve desired goals or objectives by using available resources in a course of time. It comprises of organizing, planning, leading, controlling and staffing in an organisation.

It is important to understand theories of leadership and management which can be defined through classification of leadership in terms of dimensions, personalities, processes or leadership can also be seen as power, process and influence which give importance to the common goals. Leadership can be defined as a skill which can influence the followers to achieve their goals and management involves planning to achieve these goals. In practice there are many challenges which are faced in leadership and management in relation to synthesis of theory, concepts of analysis, culture, gender, ethics and decision making. It is also important to understand various motivational theories which can increase the performance by application of relevant leadership and management skills.

Case Study- Queensland Health in Australia has been implementing various leadership development programs throughout the organisation for both clinical and non-clinical staff since 2006. It also includes leadership development workshops, web-based support, online leadership modules, 360-degree feedback, staff opinion survey, program evaluation outcomes and executive coaching (Creathar et al., 2011). The programs are based upon real time learning which engages participants in self-reflection and critical thinking which comes out of their experience. These practices helped the organisation in improving their performance which is also linked to their motivation aspects. The performance management implemented goal settings, performance measurements, rewards, job designs, employee characteristics basing on their needs and few more. All these factors helped the Queensland Health organisation to improve their employee’s effectiveness and skills. Team leadership and team management are two important activities which have to be more effective in terms of value and communication between team members.

TASK 1

Leadership: leadership is a process in which an individual motivates other individual to work towards the accomplishment of a common objective or a goal; it is a responsibility which emphasizes towards achieving a goal or an objective by utilizing the available resources, an effective leadership is very crucial for the survival of the company.

Management: it is the act of getting the people of the organisation together to achieve a common goal of the organisation by utilizing the available resources of the organisation effectively and judiciously. It comprises of the following components which are organising, directing, controlling, directing, planning etc.

Management and leadership theories:

Great Man theory: it assumes that the leaders are born and cannot be made; the word “great man” was used as it was assumed that only males have the quality of leadership.

Trait theory: trait theory resembles to the idea of the great man theory as it states that the leadership qualities and characteristics are inherited by an individual which eventually make them a better individual and hence are suitable to become leaders.

Contingency Theories: this theory states that no particular leadership style can be suitable in all circumstances and the success depends on the number of variables and the leadership style.

Situational Theories: it states that the best or suitable action is chosen by the leaders according to the situational variables.

Behavioural Theories: it states that leaders are made and not born according to this theory leadership qualities can be learnt by an individual by observations and teaching.

Participative Theories: according to this particular theory ideal leadership is the one in which a leader encourages the participation of other individuals in taking decisions however the end decision remains in the hands of the leader.

Management Theories: also know as transactional leadership believes in the role of supervising and focusing on the group of people in the leadership the individuals who perform well are rewarded and if the individuals fail to perform then are punished.

Relationship Theories: also know as transformational leadership believes in the understanding and the connection between the leader and his followers. Leaders who follow this leadership style are more ethical and have high moral standards.

Challenges in leadership and management practice:

When it comes to actual practice following challenges are faced in leadership and management:

Changing workforce

Shifting economies

Globalisation

Sustainable business

The pace of change in business world

Global competition, sustainability and efficiency

TASK 2

Role of leaders in an organisation:

As we all know that leadership inspires motivation, leaders play a vital role in motivation of the employees and their followers a success of the organisation depends on its leader. A leader plays following roles in motivation:

A leader transmits the optimism to his followers

By communicating daily with the employee a leader gains their confidence and motivates them to work

A leader shares his vision with his followers and thus motivates them by making them a part of his vision

Regular communication with the employees creates a relation with them which leads to better motivation to do the work required from them.

Leadership nourishes the team.

TASK 3

Team leadership model

The team leadership model is based on four important layers which are:

TOP LAYER: This deals with action and monitoring

SECOND LEVEL: which determines that is it an external or internal leadership level

THIRD LEVEL: which determines that is it an environmental intervention, relational intervention or task intervention.

FOURTH LEVEL: this helps to create high performance with the help of development and maintenance functions.

Advantages of teams in an organisation

These are the following advantages of team based management;

It helps to improve staff motivation

Reduces the conflict in an organisation

Helps in better communication flow

Better pooling of resources

Reduces overhead management

Enhances the team work within the organisation

Helps to eliminate the delays within the organisation