Leadership

Leadership

Identify the differences between management and leadership


Management and leadership have many differences. Management is where a person makes certain that the aim of the objectives set by the leaders is met. They may do this by delegating orders. Managers will tend to cope with difficult situations and have many roles in there job such as being organised and coordinating. Managrs will also have control and solve problems when needed. Mckenna (2000) tells us that according to Kotter, some of there roles will also include planning and controlling. Boone (2010) defines management as the process of achieving organisational tasks using other people and resources.

Whilst leadership is where an individual influences a persons behaviour to achieve a goal. Leaders tend to be able to handle changes and have some different roles compared to managers, these are roles such as motivating others and also inspiring others Leaders will also have good communication skills and have a sense of presence there. Only some managers are leaders and only some leaders can be managers. Fox (2006) highlights this and describes leadership as having the capability to affect individuals or teams towards accomplishing a goal. There are many ways to approach leadership using different theories.

Theories

Traits is the theory where people think that you are a born leader, rather than developing the skills over time. The idea is that some traits are particularly suited to leadership. It often identifies particular personalities which are shared by the leaders. Some of they key traits that you are born with are determination and the ability to work with a wide variety of people.


Qualities approach is where they work with the staff, rather than training on the job, making it so anyone can be a leader. According to Shriberg (2009), Kotter has says “Leadership has nothing to do with having charisma or other personality traits. It is not province of a chosen few.” This implies that Kotter believes instead of having born leaders you can develop leadership skills and seek leadership potential. However, there may be disagreements on the most important qualities.

Golemans six leadership styles

Another theory is Golemans six leadership styles. Goleman identified six leadership styles which are visionary leader, coaching leader, affiliative leader, democratic leader, pace- setting leader and commanding leader. Goleman believed that to be an effective leader, you need to have one of the six styles. The first style is a visionary leader, this is about long term objectives. It is the vision to imagine further and provide a long term vision.

A coaching leader develops people for the future and so they learn new skills. This leader will also be able to help individuals to realise their advantages and disadvantages. Green (2009) points out that this style is useful in acquiring new skills as changes are happening. Acquiring new skills is also useful because it can help improve the performance of someone. This will help the person strive to what they want, which you can then connect their goals the organisations goals.

An affiliative leader provides a coherence in the group. This leader will build a relationship in the group and deal with problematic situations. This leader is very effective as if their were to be any arguments, the leader can help them stick together.

The fourth leader is democratic, this is where there is commitment in the group through discussions. The leader will also be a good listener as they will acknowledge the input that workers will put in.

A pace setting leader will have a high motivation to succeed. The leader will drive to achieve goals. They will push to succeed a task. Goleman (2001) claims that this leader will set standards exceptionally high and demonstrate them himself. This is likely to get better results.

The last leader is the commanding leader. This leader requests acquiescence, they will demand something to be done without protest. There will be a clear sense of direction if problems were to arise.

Key Leader

A well known leader is Sir Alan Sugar. Sugar has been a entrepreneur from a young age and is very famous in business. He was chairman of a big football club called Tottenham Hotspur and has is own famous TV programme called the apprentice. Sugar originally started with “£100” selling aerials but over the years, has made a wealthy sum of money of “£730 million pounds.”


Sir Alan Sugar can be seen has a leader for various reasons. To make £100 turn into £730 million shows he has the motivation to accomplish a goal. This can inspire individuals to also complete a certain goal. A theory that this Sir Alan can link to is Golemans six style leadership theory. This is because the first style is visionary. Sir Alan Sugar clearly had a long term vision in being successful for the future, and that is what he is now. He can also be classified as a coaching leader. This is because he assists and develops people. The reality show apprentice shows this. Firstly, the skills people gain from this show are completely new to them. The winner will also work with sir Alan where he can help the develop the person. Sugar can also be described as a affiliative leader, as he seems to know so much about working as a team. This is because in the show The Apprentice, he always sets a project manager. The project manager will be like a leader and therefore sort out problems in the team. Sir Alan Sugar has the characteristics of a pace settling leader, simply because he is so inspiring and driving. He was not the wealthiest of people when he was younger, but to achieve what he has now will have inspired a bunch of youngsters even in the worst of circumstances. To earn so many businesses, he is certain to be a commanding leader. This is because he is the top of his businesses, and therefore can give orders to anyone which they must follow.

Conclusion and Evaluation

 Overall, leaders are important in an a society, not just to a company, but also to others. This is because people need inspiration and youngsters need someone to look up to. They can also get the better results from employees as they help motivate and encourage them. Managers are not all too different from leaders, in a sense that they will also strive for better results. Royal (2012) put forward that there is need for both managers and leaders. He argues this because he believes it will drive organisational performance.

Bibliography
Cameron E, Green M. (2009) Making Sense of Change Management: A Complete Guide to the Models. 2nd ed. London: Kogan Page Limited.

Fox, W. (2006) Managing Organisational Behaviour. Cape Town: Juta & Co

Goleman D, MacCoby M, Davenport T, Beck J, Dan C. (2001) Harvard business review on what makes a leader. 4th ed. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing Co operations.

Hamilton, S. (2011) From Amstrad to the Apprentice: How rich is Alan Sugar? [online]. This is Money. Available from: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1711658/How-rich-Alan-Sugar.html [Accessed: 28 January 2011].

Louis Boon, Kurtz D. (2010) Contemporary Business. 13th ed. NJ: John Wileys & Sons Inc.

McKenna, E. (2000) Business psychology and organisational behaviour. 3rd ed. Sussex: Psychology press ltd.

Royal M,  Agnew T. (2012) The Enemy of Engagement. New York: Hay Group Inc.

Shriberg A, Shriberg D. (2010) Practicing Leadership Principles and Applications. 4th ed. Hoboken: John Wileys & Sons Inc.

Organisational Culture

Organisational Culture

Organisation culture can be defined as a society or group of people following shared behaviours and attitudes. The society or group will also have certain values they must also follow. Fox (2006) defines organisation culture as the “social adhesive that assists in holding an organisation together.”

Provide some examples of the ‘visible’ aspects of culture in an organisation of your choice? To gain this information use your own work experience or base it on a company from The Eden Centre.

There is a theory called the three layers of culture which Schein (1992) created. It consists of three levels which are a basic assumption, values and beliefs and visible aspects of culture. The basic assumption is the fundamentals of the business, that all people should be treated well no matter what level they are at. The values and beliefs level is that it is more in depth with views that are not easily seen such as a businesses ambition and strategy. The visible aspects or artefact of culture is what you can actually see in the organisation. For example, the lay out of an office and the uniform. Smart (2010) describes visible aspects as what we can see, listen and feel in the organisation.

Having gone to the Eden centre and visiting two organisations, there were many visible aspects of culture to take from. The companies visited was orange and 02. It may be because of the time of the day or other reasons, but from my trip to the two stores, I saw visible aspects such as orange was relatively more quiet than 02, and so therefore in my opinion, the atmosphere was not as friendly. There uniform was plain black which for me, gave a bad feel about it. When I first walked into the shop, there was no real communication, no one came up to me and offered any help until later, and so their general pace of work seemed satisfactory. However, when there was communication they seemed friendly and happy to talk to me.

After I visited Orange, I went to 02 to compare the two companies. 02 was busier than orange and there was more of a welcoming feel. There uniform was also in a shirt but in a different colour. Most of the staff were busy but they seemed very approachable and the environment seemed better. After talking to other customers, they quickly moved on to me and so I was not waiting too long. This means that their general pace of worked seemed respectable.

Explain what Handy meant by the following in your own words:

Charles Handy had a theory on culture that consists of four different culture types. A power culture, a role culture, a task culture and a person culture. These show how cultures can influence a organisation. Handy then gave each culture a name to do with a Greek god.

A power culture

This culture is gives importance to the central powerful figures, this is because the central powerful figure will have the power to make decisions. The power cultures believes that being closer to the centre of an organisation means you can have more influence on the business and therefore can dictate. Others will not have much of a say in the organisation and as a result, there are few rules and regulations in the power culture. This type of culture depends on individuals rather than on groups. Personal communication is a key characteristic in this culture. Since there is central powerful figures, an example of someone's organisation would be Richard Branson. This is because he is the main person that makes decisions and is the central power figure of his organisation.

A role culture

Role culture is normally a bureaucratic organisation. Trowler (2008) refers to this culture like a Greek temple, this is because it relies on the “temples pillars, functions and specialities.” In this culture, position in the hierarchy determines who has the main power and work is decided on rules and regulations. Even if someone has more knowledge and experience they do not have a impact on the decision out of their role and responsibilities. Roles are formally defined with the help of job descriptions and organizational charts. Once people have their job description, they must work to the job description. An organisation that represents this role culture may be John Lewis. This is because staff and employees will have certain jobs to full fill and they will have to follow there job descriptions and stick to their role.

A task culture

This culture is for a project based company, so it is mainly used for just one project. The task cultures most important influence, is the tasks itself, to accomplish the task. There is no real leader in this culture, however, some influence may be based on a persons knowledge. Another key factor of this culture is the use of teamwork, individuals and others are ranked lower than the task. This is so that everything will revolve around the task and therefore it shows its importance. This culture brings together individuals that will collaborate in teams to finish the task. Task culture will rely on teamwork to produce the goods. Another advantage of this culture is the flexibility of it. This is because adjustments can be made without difficulty and individuals can swap there roles according to there expertise. Individuals are also more independent and have freedom because their role will be what they know best and so they can be create with their knowledge. An organisation that might link with this culture is the Apple. This is because they have big projects such as the Iphone.

A person culture

This culture is attentive around the person who has an interest in the selected job, there is no hierarchy and only exists with individuals that have a certain interest in it, for example organisations that follow this type of culture are occupations such as architects and barristers. This is because it is the occupation that they have decided to choose and focus in.Brooks (2009) defines a person culture as an individual being a key feature to this culture, and that individuals respect and expertise is its main influence.

What do you think are the problems of trying to classify culture into one of the four types described above?

There are problems of trying to classify culture to one of the four cultures. This is because of different views of dissimilar cultures inside the organisation. For example, Tesco's will have different departments which may have different culture roles. The finance may have power culture and checkout staff a different culture. Marketing may take on the role of the task culture and so may groups working on specific projects. This shows that an organisation as many cultures and would be hard to choose one culture that represents the whole business. This is not just Tesco's, but companies such as B&Q and Marks and Spencer. Therefore, it would be very difficult to classify culture into one of the cultures of Handys. Many organisations may even ignore the four cultures completely and not have the cultures in the business. They may choose not to have one individual with the most power and therefore neglects the power culture.

Summary on findings in conclusion and evaluation.

This topic was engaging because I found out a lot about organisational culture. I never took into account so many visible aspects when I walk into stores before this topic. I learnt about different theories and understand the meaning of organisational culture. I believe that different environments will have different cultures and organisations may wish to change their culture for reasons such as for new technology and growth of the company. I do not think the 02 and Orange evaluation was fair, this is because it might have been the time of day that is what was affecting the outcome, or simply them certain staffs. Others may be different.

Reference List

Anon. (2011) [online]. UK mobile Review. Available from: http://www.ukmobilereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/O2-logo.jpg [Accessed: October 2011].

Anon. (n.d.) [online]. Available from: http://www.orange.co.uk/.

Anon. (n.d.) [online]. Available from: http://www.o2.co.uk/.

Fox, W. (2006) Managing Organisational Behaviour. Cape Town: Juta & Co.

Packer, C. (2006) CherryStone [online]. Transport Canada. Available from: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/standards/systemsafety-cass-2006-safetyculturep-3216.htm [Accessed: 26 April 2006].

Singh, M. (2010) Top news [online]. Top news. Available from: http://topnews.ae/content/23985-orange-provide-high-definition-voice-calls-mobile [Accessed: 9 February 2010].

Smart, J. (2010) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Volume 25. Memphis: Springer Science+Business Media.

Trowler, P. (2008) Cultures and Change in Higher Education: Theories and Practices. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

University, O. (1998) Foundations Of Senior Management[online]. Churcher. Available from: http://www.churcher.com/FOSM/foundations-of-senior-management-9188.htm#item9192 [Accessed: 17 November 1998].

Personality

Personality Blog

Compare and contrast the differences between the nature and nurture approaches to personality? Include the nomothetic and idiographic approaches. Summarise with your views – do you feel nature or nurture is the dominant influence

Personality can be defined as the way in which people interact with eachother. It is an individuals attitude, the way they think and behave. Fox (2006) explains that it is the mixture of a persons psychological traits that is used to classify that person.

Traits are characteristics that help outline a persons behaviour. There are many different traits, each person has there own one. If you have a certain type of trait, you are probable to have other related traits. For example, someone may be extrovert. Meaning they are out going and expressive, therefore they are most likely a sociable. There is a model called the big five, which is meant to describe what personality trait you have. These traits are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openess. I will discuss this later on in my personality test results.

Personality has becomea big part of peoples lives and a big part of society. Some companies are now using it as a form of assessment in an organisations recruitment process. Fox (2006) also highlights this and says that employees will perform better if there personalities match with the right job. I believe this is true up to a certain point because if there personalities connect in a working environment, I think that the employees will perform to a better standard. However, even if there personality traits are not related to others. They still might perform well because of other various reasons such as motivation.

Nature vs Nurture

There is a argument in how peoples personalities are developed, is it by heredity or is it by the impact of the environment, there are two sides to this debate. Nature and Nurture. Nature is where a personality is inherited from something like genes, whilst nurture argues that inherited genes may make up the person. But they do not hold back a persons potential for higher achievement, on the condition that there is the right atmosphere and environment. I do not believe that there is a dominant influence.

Personally, I think I have developed because of heredity and the environment. I think some of my personality traits will not change because of my genes. However, I do believe that over time, my personality traits may change, or I may just gain more traits because of the different environment I am in. Shaffer (2008) highlights that there is a middle ground, which is where my opinion lies.

Nomothetic and Idiographic approaches

There are also other approaches to personality, nomothetic and idigraphic approaches. Nomothetics approach to personality points out similarities between individuals and proposes that people have the same trait. The only different is the extent of the trait. Mullins (2007) explains that personality characteristics can identified and measured and therefore there can be statistical studys on groups. Using this, people can predict the way someone behaves.

Idiographic focuses on why each persons personality is unique and individual. So therefore people can adapt and can change. Mullins (2007) also tells us about the interaction with the environment by saying that “they regard individuals as responding to the environment and people around them and see theinteractions as playign a crictical part in shaping personalities.”

Personality Test

Source: BBC

Summary of my findings about my own personality

These categories makeup the big 5 model of personality. Nelson et al (2007) explains the big 5 model and about each one. Openness is a person that is creative, open minded, interested. As you can see the openness category was low. In my opinion, I agree with my score up to a certain point. I do not believe I am that creative and in some subjects, I am disinterested. But when it comes to hobbies such as sportor piano. I believe I am creative in the way I do things and I am open minded. Conscientiousness is like being hardworking and organised, I believe medium is a fair result for me. I think I am a hard worker and put in the effort in whatever I do, but can be lazy at times. Extroversion is a person that is has characteristics such as sociable and gregarious. In my opinion, I can be sociable depending on the situation. I am fairly shy when meeting new people and will hold back a lot until I get to know them. Agreeableness is a person that is cooperative and straight forward. I do agree with this score to a certain point, as I believe I am pretty straight forward when it comes to just getting on with a task and explaining something. I can easily agree with people and cooperative with people. However, I do not like to agree with something I feel is not right. Last of the big 5 model is neuroticism, which is being anxious and depressed. I agree with this score, because I am usually a calm person and never really feel depressed.

Conclusion

I found this topic a very interesting topic and learnt a lot about myself. Whilst writing about this topic, I thought about my personality and thought about where I would score myself in the big five model. I also thought about other traits and that I believe I have a personality through both nurture and nature. However, I do not agree with the personality test I did, and I do not believe I will agree with any personality test that I do, if I done another one. This is because I believe it all depends on the situation, and believe that I respond differently in different situations and environments.

References

Fox, W. (2006), Managing organisational behaviour, Cape town, Juta & Co. ltd

Mullins, L. (2007), Management and Organisation Behaviour, 8^th Edition, FT Prentice Hall

Nelson, D. and Quick, J. (2007), Understanding Organizational Behavior, 3^rd Edition, Thomas Higher Education

Schaffer, D. (2008), Social and Personality Development, 6^th Edition, Wadsworth

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/meriw007/psy_1001/Big%20Five.jpg

https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/personality/

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=personalities+nature+vs+nurture&um=1&hl=en&biw=1067&bih=650&tbm=isch&tbnid=oU8Y_vpHddI3JM:&imgrefurl=http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi%3FIncludeBlogs%3D14424%26search%3DNature%2520vs.%2520Nurture&docid=De2vicUqg0blCM&imgurl=http://blog.lib.umn.edu/meyer769/myblog/Nature_versus_Nurture.jpg&w=590&h=456&ei=p0cKT_aJCYnZ8QP7-7yuAQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=317&sig=110400292456007435320&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=184&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0&tx=93&ty=130

http://personality.prosperyourmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/personality1.bmp