People Leadership & Management

People Leadership & Management

Introduction

The world has gone through massive globalization. Boundaries and borders no longer exist. Cultures have mixed to form new ones. Ethnicities, race, gender and language barriers are not as much an issue today as they were a few decades ago. This is the primary reason why organizations began looking for leadership qualities in the employees they hire. This paper takes a look at the nature of leadership, management and links to competitiveness of organizations. It goes on to analyze how leadership affects performance, possible areas of improvement and the problems in implementing solutions.

Leadership, Management and Competitiveness of an Organization

In today's world, leadership and management are inseparable. The two differing roles are combined and used to lead organizations in to world markets, hire the best staff possible, increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, increase innovation and consequently increase revenues. Even though organizations have begun to look for individuals that contain qualities of managers and leaders, it must be noted that the two are very different. Linking the two roles has shown to solve numerous conflicts that arise in organizations.

According to general consensus, a manager's role involves planning, coordinating, organizing and maintain workflow. A leader's job is to create, motivate, risk and inspire. Warren Bennis highlights the difference between the two roles. He says that most managers administer work, where as leaders innovate and create newer opportunities. Leaders develop what managers then attempt to maintain. As in charge of organizations, managers work via control and leaders work by building trust and developing bonds. The approach to work differs too and can be seen in how managers ask how or when work will be accomplished as compared to leaders inquiring what and why it must be done. Managers maintain control and administer their tasks by accepting status quo; leaders earn recognition and stand out by challenging it (Bennis, 2009, pp. 42).

There was a time when the two could be separated. This was long before the world recognized that combining these two roles solves more problems and creates a better working environment. An example of such a time may be earlier this century, where a foreman would rarely wonder what exactly he was producing. Even rarer would be the thought of who he was producing for. As most hardworking people of the time, everyone did as they were told. They followed orders, organized work as per required and assigned people to their designated tasks. At most, they passed on recommendations about staffing and suggestions on how to increase productivity. The era in general, focused heavily on efficiency. Thus, the roles of managers began to change drastically. Employees began to look to their managers for more than just tasks and work orders. Managers were now responsible for nurturing talent, providing purpose and creating incentives and inspiration (Hartog & Koopman, 2001, pp. 167-88).

The modern era is extremely challenging. Our knowledge of economy has increased ten folds and this has directly changed the way organizations go about their ...