Discuss the Concept of Managers as Effective Leaders
In the context of this question, discussing the managers as effective leaders and the leaders as efficient managers and underlining the gravity of these concepts is critical. As it was mentioned earlier, determining the differences between management and leadership is vital. The primary dissimilarity lays in the conceptualization and intentions of these phenomena. In this case, management focuses on creating a clear distinction between supervisors and subordinates by prioritizing the authority, but when being combined with the concept of the leader it tends to highlight the importance of commitment and inspiration.1
Simultaneously, it intends to follow the plan of actions and coordinates the activities of the organization to reach the substantial goals and objectives of the company. For example, applying the concepts of management is critical for the maintenance and effective performance of the production plant.
Despite the clarity of the theoretical concepts, it is necessary to use practical examples to understand the differences between effective management and leadership. Speaking of the concept of a manager as an effective leader, one has to distribute the workload efficiently, as it ensures the absence of burnout and diminishes the number of extra working hours.1 Simultaneously, being the efficient manager from the case scenario implies that this expert has to focus on the quality of the delivered services. In this case, these practical matters underline that coordinating and controlling the quality of operations define the effectiveness of the managerial practice.
The examples reflected above highlighted that the concepts of effective management are unique, as it tends to combine the best qualities of a leader and a manager. Nonetheless, to ensure the effectiveness of the management, the aspects of leadership and management have to be combined. In this case, a manager as an effective leader not only assures that the well-defined plan is followed but also pays vehement attention to the satisfaction and commitment of the workforce.
Discuss the Concept of Leaders as Effective Managers
On the contrary, a leader is an inspirational figure, who encourages the individuals to follow him/her without creating a high power distance. Furthermore, the leadership does not simply focus on following the well-established framework of rules and standards, but it also attempts to change and optimize the processes and decision-making mechanism. As for the concept of leaders as effective managers, it uses entirely different notions, as it prioritizes creating a trusting relationship with the followers. In the example case scenario, effective leadership is associated with the ability to communicate vision, inspire, and motivate the employees.
In this instance, a combination of these aspects encourages the workforce to propose innovative solutions and highlight the significance of aligning their actions with the company’s strategy. In turn, speaking of the qualities of an effective leader with managerial skills, it remains apparent that focusing on the motivational and inspirational side may not be enough. In this case, using the reward-and-punishment system and other managerial techniques will increase the effectiveness of the supervisor of any kind.
A leader as a manager should combine the best features of a successful manager and an effective leader. The most significant thing for such leaders is to make the people in the team feel that their decisions are important, and their opinions are valued and taken into consideration. Leaders as effective managers increase the levels of job satisfaction among the employees, as well as raise the levels of productivity. It is possible to compare leadership to art. A leader as a manager should impact people in such a positive way that would encourage them to do their job competently and efficiently.
Evaluate the Balance Needed Between the Demands of Management and Demands of Leadership
In the modern world, leadership and management have a high recognition among business practitioners. Nonetheless, these concepts are different, but the managers of the companies are required to comply with both of these matters to communicate the firm’s vision and direction, motivate the employees, and coordinate the workload and the ability of the employees to meet the specific objectives. Consequently, in the context of this essay, it is critical to emphasize the differences between leadership and management with the assistance of practical examples. In this case, combining leadership and management is highly important to elevate the possibility of meeting organizational goals.
Despite having many similarities, leadership and management tend to have different demands. Evaluating the dissimilarities in demands will highlight the key findings of the essay and assist in balancing the concepts in real life. For instance, controlling the actions of the employees and evaluating the quality of the work with the help of KPIs illustrate the demands of the management. Simultaneously, using scheduling and having weekly meetings assures the order in the organization. On the contrary, the concepts of leadership are often more chaotic. For example, a leader prioritizes the significance of motivation and inspiration of the workforce.1
It contrasts and supports the idea of management at the same time, as it attempts to enhance the KPIs with the help of motivation but underrates the importance of scheduling and planning. Based on the factors provided above, it could be said that the demands of both leadership and management have to be balanced. Combining the best features of leadership such as the ability to motivate, lead, and inspire the employees and using managerial techniques to set the right direction and contribute to effective planning and scheduling is critical. Otherwise, the lack of equilibrium might create confusion and an absence of control when communicating the company’s vision and scheduling the workflows.
This essay reveals that despite an extended number of similarities between management and leadership, these concepts tend to be different. In this case, the leader plays a role of a motivator and attempts to inspire the subordinates to pursue excellence. On the contrary, managerial functions are usually limited and imply scheduling, delegating, monitoring, planning, and coordinating the activities. Despite having a clear distinction and autonomy of these concepts, they tend to be used together.
Ruwais Refinery East is a good example of finding the balance between management and leadership demands. In this company, the leader is responsible for creating a reliable structure of work. They focus on understanding the problems that the company encounters to the full extent and come up with ideas for improving the manufacturing process. Managers, on the other hand, hold the process in their hands and look for control and stability at all levels of the company’s work. Unlike leaders who spend much time thinking about the best solution, managers may be more impulsive. Such cooperation makes Ruwais Refinery East one of the most successful world companies. According to Dr. Hassan Karam, fixing the problems is the most crucial element of success.
Analyze the Role of the Leader in Contributing to the creation of the Organization’s Vision and in Its Communication to the others
The leader’s role in contributing to the creation of vision is the most significant one. The first step in creating a vision is careful observation and collecting data. Further, a leader should reflect upon the gathered information and write down the ideas that need to be processed in more detail. The essence of creating a vision is thinking about great ideas rather than small ones. People will follow a leader who promises development and changes for the better rather than merely staying where they are but not risking anything. A leader should create such a vision that would encourage people to meet the challenges and become stronger together.
Nonetheless, the concept of creating a vision may harm the functioning of the firm and its corporate culture. Using the examples of the actions of the leaders such as the executive manager of Nordstrom, John Nordstrom, and Dr. Hassan Karam who is Senior Vice President of Ruwais Refinery East will assist in understanding the benefits and drawbacks of this approach and determine the potential reasons for success and failure.
In the first place, John Nordstrom created a vision that the employees of the company had to prioritize excellence of customer service.2 The managers of the firm implemented this concept and highly monitored the actions of salespersons while making their wages dependent on the quality of the provided services. It could be said that the compliance with the company’s mission helped Nordstrom be successful in the market with $600 million in profits in 2011.2 Focusing on the exceptional quality of the service assisted in gaining high retention of the customers and shifted profits. Nevertheless, this matter created a gap between the employers and employees, as the top management underestimated the role of the workforce due to paying vehement attention to the company’s mission.
The leadership style of Dr. Hassan Karam also aimed to communicate the vision of the company to its employees. This leader kindly cherished relationships with the workforce and always supported their decisions. It helped him establish a positive rapport with them and deliver the mission and company’s vision effectively. Nonetheless, being a young manager could be viewed as a primary drawback since his colleges did not take his actions seriously. Consequently, the commonly accepted values and stereotypes could be regarded as the most significant causes of the leader’s mistakes.
Evaluate How Empowerment and Trust through Ethical Leadership Impacts on Organizational Practice
Empowerment, trust, and ethical leadership have a critical impact on working processes and the functionality of the organization. Nowadays, these concepts are often associated with the positive intentions of the management. For instance, the researchers found an optimistic correlation between ethical relationships, motivation, and commitment of the employees. However, there are also some negative matters related to these principles. In this case, providing positive and negative examples of this issue will assist in understanding the role of ethical business leadership. In the end, the conclusions are drawn to summarize the main findings of this essay.
One of the positive cases is when the ethical leaders, who use empowerment and trust, attempt to become role models for their subordinates and encourage them to take their actions as examples.3 In this case, one considers Marc Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, as one of the bright examples of this leadership style.4 His ability to cultivate trust and a warm atmosphere in the company enhanced his connections and relationships with the employees. In this case, the actions of the CEO of Facebook helped the company gain its financial prosperity and reach worldwide popularity and recognition.
Despite the well-defined positive nature and advantageous influence on the overall performance of the firm, ethical leadership might be a potential cause of some controversies. For example, some companies have a different perception of ethics and do not consider these aspects as highly important. Underestimating these principles leads to a high possibility of fraud in the organization. Simultaneously, the employees do not have the motivation and commitment to reach the set organizational goals. A combination of these aspects leads to the absence of trust and bankruptcy of the company. Consequently, pursuing this approach might be a key reason for developing chaos in the firm.
In the end, this essay helped determine the gravity of ethical leadership for the success of the company and the commitment of the employees. The example of Marc Zuckerberg revealed that ethical leadership pertains to the trust and empowerment of the employees. Following these principles have a beneficial impact on decision-making, creativity and establish a friendly atmosphere in the company. On the contrary, having a wrong perception of ethical leadership will have a destructive effect on the organizational structure while decreasing the level of trust and empowerment.
Evaluate How Personal Energy, Self-Belief, and Commitment Impact on Leadership Styles
Despite the similar intentions of the diverse leadership approaches, the leaders tend to use different strategies to manage their subordinates, encourage them, and deliver a corporate vision to them. Alternatively, evaluating various external and internal factors such as personal energy, self-belief, and commitment and their impact on the leadership style will assist in understanding the rationale for selecting a particular strategy.
In this case, one cannot underestimate the impact of various internal and external factors on choosing a particular leadership approach. In the context of this essay, it is critical to assess the influence of personal energy, self-belief, and commitment on the expected actions of the leader. In this instance, using the example of Dr. Hassan Karam will help understand the effect of these concepts on his leadership style.
Overall, Karam’s selection of transformational approach is reasonable, as he has a high level of commitment. He is eager to support, motivate and encourage others to become active participants in managerial decision-making, and these characteristics entirely comply with the concepts of a charismatic leader. At the same time, a young manager is full of energy and believes in a spirit of community to reach organizational goals. In the context of the presented case, his high level of personal energy and the gravity of communal spirit assist in creating a friendly atmosphere and trusting relationships with the workforce.
Nonetheless, it may be a potential cause of biased decision-making due to the development of a particular attitude towards each employee. On the contrary, a leader with low energy and high self-esteem and motivation is a typical transactional leader. The main features and values of this leadership style to resolve the presented issue are rational and logical decision-making, the well-established framework of standards and values, and strong differentiation between supervisor and subordinates.
Distinguish between Two Leadership Styles
In the context of this essay, it is essential to explain the differences between two leadership styles with the theoretical concepts and two working situations. Simultaneously, it is vital to provide a rationale for the choice of these leadership approaches, as they are highly dependent on the personal traits of a manager. Nowadays, managers tend to apply a plethora of leadership theories to communicate their values and vision to their subordinates. One of the examples is a transformational leadership theory, and this approach emphasizes the significance of relationships and finding a connection with the workforce.5 These theoretical dogmas pertain to the transformational leadership style. This strategy implies that the leaders motivate their followers by being highly energetic, inspirational, and sociable.
In turn, another most common leadership theory is transactional management, and it implies motivating and increasing the employees’ commitment by using a well-established reward and punishment system.5 In this case, the employees have to meet particular KPIs and the company’s standards to be rewarded. In this case, the well-defined nature of this approach led to the rising popularity of the transactional leadership style. This strategy implies that the leader applies the theoretical concepts mentioned above into practice. On the contrary to transformational leadership, the leader is not emotional and can be viewed as conservative. He/she follows the established rules and ensures that the corporate objectives are met.
Evaluate the Practical Value of Leadership Style to a Manager in Achieving Organizational Objectives
The practical value of leadership style in achieving organizational objectives cannot be overestimated. With the right choice of style, the manager will be able to arrange the company’s work in the most efficient way. Depending on what style is chosen, different approaches to achieving the company’s goals are employed.
In transactional leadership, the manager is focused on a regular flow of operations. This type of leadership presupposes keeping things at their normal pace and quality without trying to surpass one’s results. Transactional leaders respect discipline and use mane means of encouragement to motivate their team to show their best performance. These leaders do not have great plans for the future but rather are determined to keep things at the best level at present.
Unlike transactional leadership, the transformational one is concentrated on achieving better results today that will lead to success in the future. Transformational managers are dedicated to team-building and developing opportunities for collaboration. Such leaders set high purposes and do their best to inspire the employees to reach these goals. Transformational leadership presupposes space for the personal and professional enhancement of every member of the team.
Interpret How Situational Variables Influence the Choice of Leadership Style
The choice of leadership style is greatly dependent on situational variables such as social and physical environment, the type of business, the leader’s and employees’ features, and the type of communication. All of these factors determine what approach the leader should use in his or her practice.
One of the examples of the transformational leadership approach is the actions of Dr. Hassan Karam. For instance, to encourage the development of innovative solutions “need for innovations, growing economic stage,” Karam’s leadership style will be the most relevant strategy. Establishing trusting relationships with the employees and maintaining a friendly atmosphere will contribute to the development of innovative solutions and optimize the working processes. The importance of interactions with the workforce and the ability to develop favorable conditions for employees’ development are the primary values of this approach, which can affect the presented situation in a positive way.
On the contrary, situational variables disable the application of the transformational leadership style in the case of the layoff. In this case, excluding judgementalism will contribute to effective decision-making. To ensure a fair and rational decision, the leader has to use the concepts of transactional leadership.
Works Cited
- Goodwin, Neil. Leadership in Healthcare: A European Perspective. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
- Blenheim, Steven. The Conversation Company: Boost Your Business through Culture, People, and Social Media. London: Kogan Page, 2013. Print.
- Leigh, Andrew. Ethical Leadership: Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Business Culture. London: Kogan Page, 2013. Print.
- Mark Zuckerberg and Skill Approach Leadership Theory. 2013. Web.
- Amanchukwu, Rose, Gloria Stanley, and Nwachukwu Ololube. “A Review of Leadership Theories, Principles and Styles and Their Relevant to Educational Management.” Management 5.1 (2015): 6-14. Print.