LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

People Leadership and Management

People Leadership and Management

Introduction

The objective of the assignment is to assess the student's ability to critically evaluate their understanding of the dynamic relationship between the nature of leadership and management theories and approaches. The assignment will also assess the student's ability to critically extrapolate ideas and evidence in the context of a practical case scenario. Students are expected to support their case evaluation with critical analysis, and are expected to propose reasonable conclusions, together with appropriate recommendations.

Significance of Leadership and Management as it Relates to Driving the Competitiveness of an Organisation

The success of an organization depends on many factors, none more important than the impact of its leaders. The successful organization has one major attribute that sets it apart from unsuccessful organizations: dynamic and effective leadership. Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman & Fetter (1990, 107) pointed out that managers (business leaders) are the basic and scarcest resource of any business enterprise. Antonakis & Atwater (2002, 673) made this point more evident: "Of every 100 new business establishments started, approximately 50, or one half, go out of business within 2 years. By the end of 5 years, only one-third of the original 100 will still be in business." Most of these failures can be attributed to ineffective leadership.

According to Avolio (2010), “Leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives” (p. 209). Conger, Kanungo, & Meno (2000) defined leadership as "interpersonal influence exercised in a situation and directed, through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specialized goal or goals"(p. 745). Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman & Fetter (1990) stated that "leadership is influencing people to follow in the achievement of a common goal" (p. 46).

The word "leadership" is used in everyday conversation in two basic ways: (1) to refer to the process of moving a group of people in the same direction through noncoercive means, and (2) to refer to people who are in roles in which leadership is expected. It has been said that management is about doing things right, while leadership is about doing the right things. Ling, Simsek, Lubatkin, Lyon & Veiga (2008) said that being a leader is like "learning how to play the violin in public" (p. 35).

Leaders need outside observers who can help them understand their own behaviors. Hansen (2009, 22) also noted that insufficient attention is given to the role of personality and self-understanding in leadership. Koene, Vogelaar, and Soeters (2002) viewed "leadership" as the process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly toward the achievement of group goals. According to Hansen (2009, 23), world leaders defined leadership as follows:

Leadership as decision and persuasion;

Leadership as the implementation of creative imagination;

Leadership as biological, collective, or class dominance;

Leadership as influence by example;

Leadership as satisfaction of followers' needs; and

Leadership as task performance.

Kark and Shamir (2002, 67), defined "leadership" as interpersonal influence exercised in a situation and directed through the communication process toward the attainment of a specialized goal or ...