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.