LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Leadership and management



Leadership and management

Introduction

Aviva is known as the 6th largest insurance group in the world which serves about 44.5 million customers across North America, Asia Pacific and Europe. There are around 11.3 million customers in Ireland who trust this company to look after their personal and financial assets. In this paper, we are analyzing the case of this organization they leaked redundancies for months and then eventually advised that they are closing all branch operations in March 2012. This scenario shows that the organization requires leadership change as the employees were leaving the organization. The possible factor for this may be that the leadership lacks effectiveness and there was a need for change. Leader comprises of various traits and it is necessary that a leader should focus on the organizational environment. A good organizational as well as individual performance is crucial to survive and thrive in the current business environment (Kim, 2002, p.231).

Literature Review

Leadership

Different languages and cultures have different words for the person who leads or guides people. According to the Oxford Dictionary the term "leader" was known to people in 1300s while the term "leadership" came into existence in late 1700s (Van, Cilliers, Deventer, 2008, p. 253). Generally speaking, leaders are people who can turn their beliefs and visions into reality. For the purpose they use their control and influence over the people ((Kulkarni, Fiet, 2007, p.81). Understanding of leadership concepts can be different, but the basic construct has remained the same over decades. Leadership can be defined as "the ability to influence others to act toward the attainment of a goal".

Leaders can have managerial responsibilities but leadership is beyond the everyday management of organizational functions. (Kim, 2002) contrasts management and leadership with respect to their roles in the organizations. He states that management deals with complexity. Due to the formation of large business enterprises and diversified business activities, the need for management discipline has evolved to organize, control and maintain the functions of organization through development of processes and procedures. While Leadership deals with change. The current business environment is getting increasingly competitive and uncertain due to changing technologies, globalization, labor shortages and new market structure. Consequently the organizations have to constantly change and improve themselves. These shifts from the traditional work practices need the vision of a leader.

Performance

Individual performance needs to be managed properly. Performance management is an inseparable part of development strategy and keenly focuses on effective utilization of human resources. Armstrong and Baron (2004) define performance management as "a process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organizational performance. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved". According to Korsgaard, Brodt (2002), performance management is "the process that translates the overall strategic objectives of an organization into clear objectives for each individual employee". People need both ability and motivation to perform ...