LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Issues Surrounding Group Leadership and Management

Issues Surrounding Group Leadership and Management

Introduction

It is important to understand the dominant discourses about leadership and management in general, and more specifically that which relates to the management and leadership of scholarly, collaborative research projects; thus, providing some understanding of the larger theoretical context within which this research study takes place. Pepper (2003) suggested the context for the theoretical and research development of leadership and management changed in the 1980s with the rise of a “globally competitive business environment” and the need for businesses to reinvent themselves (p. 349). Coupled with this need for adaptation at the corporate level was the need to sustain workforce 'empowerment' in order to meet the ever new demands of a rapidly changing environment. This need to adapt to the new business environment got translated into a focus on 'change' management skills and leaders who possessed these skills. Conger's premise was that to address the changes in the business situation researchers began to see a clear dichotomy between leadership and management. These changes, in what constitutes 'true' leadership today, are reflected in how leadership is defined.

Discussion

There are various challenges that group leadership and management are facing today:

Leadership challenges included fiscal challenges, administrative, task assigning and program development, dealing with employees, increased diversity of employees and customers, and technological challenges. Finally, the majority of studies preferred vice president and department chairs instead of professional managers at the leadership positions because of the uniqueness of the organizational culture, and the lack of the available resources to recruit competent professional managers (Strange 2002 343).

The study of Schreiber (2006) demonstrated results about leadership challenges in management of groups. Various studies portrayed fiscal challenges, administrative, curriculum and program development, dealing with customers and employees, increased diversity of employees and customers, and technological challenges as important issues that administrators need to deal with effectively. Existing studies findings did not address concerns such as balancing personal and professional lives, attaining personal goals, community outreach, and public and legislative accountability. Yet, according to the existing studies, among the challenges were dealing with the hospitality industry, bureaucracy and politics in the organization, and acquiring and applying the necessary skills to be effective in leading.

According to the results of existing studies, challenges may vary based on the size and type of organization and its location. For example, an independent hotel with different departments would employ a Vice President to lead the organization, and department chairs to direct the departments (Wang 2006 175). The Vice President and department chairs' responsibilities and challenges might differ. Often, department chairs face the challenge of training and having to retain active research and publishing records, in contrast with the vice president, that could fully concentrate on the management of the organization (Thyer 2002 6). Given the analogy of the business world, department chairs can be viewed as middle management and Vice President as executive management. Somehow, to be able to reach an executive position, one must first experience middle management and deal with ...