Q 01 Role of a leader and function of a manager
In the present world, we can a both leaders and managers. The leadership means that the ability to influence for a group of people to achieve an objective collectively. The simplest differentiation of a leader and a manager is that the leader has followers whereas the manager has people to work under him. In other way, leadership determine which direction to move whereas the manager will decide how to move in the given direction.
Leadership can be differentiated under following categories,
Entrepreneurship
Interpersonal skills
Decision making skills and problem solving skills
Self-development
Further, following theories are also introduced to develop leadership qualities.
Trait Theory
This theory will analyses the characteristics of a person and determine whether such person carries any leadership qualities.
Style Theory
This theory does not focus on who leaders are, but rather on what they do. It focuses on task and relationship behaviors (Burkus 2015). Although trait and skill theories have ideas that can be intertwined and can be compared to one another, style leadership theory differs quite drastically. Instead of focusing on who leaders are or what qualities they possess, were born with, or skills they acquired, Style Leadership instead focuses on what they actually do/did. Style Leadership refers to behavior and action tendencies held by the leader that led to their individual style of leadership and how it impacted their environments. Style Leadership focus on 2 main types of behaviors, 1) Task Behavior and 2) Relationship behavior.
Behavioral theory
The situational theory of leadership suggests that no single leadership style is best. Instead, it all depends on the situation at hand and which type of leadership and strategies are best-suited to the task. According to this theory, the most effective leaders are those that are able to adapt their style to the situation and look at cues such as the type of task, the nature of the group, and other factors that might contribute to getting the job done.
Situational leadership theory is often referred to as the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory, after its developers, Dr. Paul Hersey, author of "The Situational Leader," and Kenneth Blanchard, author of "One-Minute Manager."
The term of leader and manager are often used interchangeably, however, Kotter (2001) argued that there are distinct differences between the role of a manager and a leader. He argued that, the managers are often deals with complexity (how to change to face to future) whereas the leaders are dealing with the change (what should be changed to face to future). Further, management can be exercised over resources, projects and non-personal things, but leaders are directly dealing with people.
Few more difference in the role of a leader and of a manager are as follows,
Leaders creates vision and then the managers creates goals to achieve that vision. Leaders are change agents and managers maintain the status quo. All the leaders are built up upon their own style, however, managers are not built upon their own manner. Leaders are often risk takers. Despite of the returns of such a risk, the leaders are usually curious about the world. Hence, the leaders are built by their own, they always educates themselves. They technically grow themselves.
Q 02 Application of the role of a leader and a manager in a given context
Let’s assume the leader as the founder of an organization and the manager as the General Manager of the same organization. Therefore, the founder’s objective is to move the organization to cater to the changing demands and supplies. As a result, he will bring new ideas and thoughts to his management team so that he can ensure the market changes are correctly identified and addresses. He will be mostly dealing with the team members of the organization and will be continuously discussing new ideas for a product or a service.
The founder will be building relationships with both his followers and external parties such as potential investors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, banks and funding companies and support service providers. Leaders will also make contacts directly with the staff members for their wellbeing and motivation.
The General Manager’s intention therefore will be to plan the production for the planned new product or the service, he will then analyses the available resources that the company has and will plan for capital asset acquisition in order to develop the planned new service or the product by the founder. GM has to go through the budgets and to ensure project profitability.
The GM will be contacting suppliers and vendors, it is a rear situation where a GM contacts the people who was contacted by the founder. GM will only contact his closest assistant managers for any updates in the process.
Q 03 Improve effectiveness of a leader and a manager
The leaders can improve their efficiencies in the business environment in many ways. As a leader is mostly dealing with the topmost level in an organization, his objective will be to improve the innovation of the organization and to develop new products and services to cater to the changing world. The efficiency of the role of a leader can be improved as follows.
Effective interpersonal skills are critical for an effective leader. Maintaining relationship with peer companies are critical in this position. Although a leader not going to imitate another peer company’s innovation process, it is critical to know what’s happening in the industry. Being informed about the industry and the market is important to be an effective leader.
Further, maintaining a good relationship with his followers are important for an organization to improve in the long run. This will enable an organization to develop motivated and effective working culture. Even in motivating the staff, it is important to coach his followers as they have trust upon his leader.
Effective entrepreneurship skills will be required for a leader in order to spot new market opportunities and to locate new resources for the organization.
Critical decision making skills are essential for an effective leader as his decisions are affecting to the organization as a whole. Problem-solving skills under any difficult situation is a key skill that a leader should have in order to run the operation in a smooth manner.
In a manager’s perspective, maintaining an effective communication skills is a key matter to be an effective person. As the managers are the persons who arranges the recourses of the company to achieve an objective, communication between managers and staff shall be updated effectively.
Managers may have to develop effective process and logics in the production process in order to minimize the costs and achieve desired quality and output. Allocation of staff and resources have to do in a logical manner to ensure the desired objectives are achieved.
Q 04 Impact to the business environment and community
As discussed above, the leader is a person who creates opportunities and dreams. Hence, an effective leader will create following advantages.
He will create new working opportunities which will enable the organization to open new doors in the market. The shareholder wealth and the company’s value will increase in the development of new opportunities. This will also create new job opportunities to the community that the organization operates in.
As one of the differences in the leader is to coach his followers, there is a bigger chance to develop another leader in the same capacity. This will enable the community to develop new developments and to enhance the economy as a whole.
Networking between peer organizations will enable an organization to enhance the knowledge base of organization. Shared know-how in the industry will collectively increase the company’s value.
Further, continuous coaching and learning, the employees can be kept motivated throughout their employment. This will ensure a solid employee retention and loyalty to the organization.
As the leaders are driven by the dreams, the community will be fortunate enough to experience new developments in any product or a service. This will also ease the life style of the community and uplift their living style.
When a new opportunity arrives, managers will incorporate their innovation to handle such opportunity carefully and to retain in the business.
As the managers trying to develop systems and processes to ensure the logical and effective performance in the organization, the value creates within the organization increases and then the shareholders wealth increase. Being able to provide innovative and achieve desired quality in the production prices will ensure the customer loyalty, reduced cost and increase demand. This is important for an organization to survive in the long run.
Referencing
George Terry. (2015). Definition of leadership. [Online]. https://slideplayer.com/slide/9118313/ [Accessed on 28 July 2019]
Banutu-Gomez, M. B., & Banutu-Gomez, S. M. T. (2007). Leadership and organizational change in a competitive environment. Business Renaissance Quarterly, 2(2), 69–91.Google Scholar [Accessed on 28 July 2019]
Barrow, J. C. (1977). The variables of leadership: A review and conceptual framework. Academy of Management Review, 2, 233–251.Google Scholar
Jessica E.Dinh. Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.005 [Accessed on 28 July 2019]
Slavica Kodish. (2017). venturing into the unknown: Blogs as a means of advancing leadership skills. Pages 315-321.
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