Although the words leadership and management and used interchangeably, there are many differences in what they actually mean and what they do in a business. The differences between leadership and management are:
· Leaders adopt a more personal and active attitude towards goals whereas managers tend to adopt a more impersonal or passive attitude towards goals.
· Leaders create excitement in work and excite people by creating images with choices and substance. Managers need to continually co-ordinate and balance in order to compromise values which will get people to accept solutions.
· Leaders have empathy with others and give attention to other aspects of the business and to their relationships with other people. Managers usually maintain a low level of personal and emotional involvement with others.
· Leaders tend to work in, but do not belong to the organisation so their sense of identity does not depend upon membership or work roles as they usually search for opportunities to change these roles. Managers usually see themselves as conservators and regulators of existing orders and affairs.
Robert Blake and Jane Mouton developed a framework for thinking about a leader’s ‘task versus person’ orientation in the early 1960’s. The Managerial grid plots the degree of task-centeredness versus person-centeredness and this identifies five combinations as different leadership styles.
The Managerial grid is based on 2 different behavioural dimensions which are:
The Managerial grid is based on 2 different behavioural dimensions which are:
1) Concern for people – This is the degree to which a leader considers the team members, their interests, and areas of personal development when deciding how to accomplish a task in the most appropriate way.
2) Concern for Production – This is the degree to which a leader emphasises particular objectives, organisational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how to complete a task.
By using the grid to plot these two concerns, Blake and Mouton developed the five leadership styles. These are:
1) Country Club Leadership – This is High People/Low Production. This type of leader is mostly concerned about the needs and the feelings of the team members. When operating, they believe that as long as the team members are happy and secure they will be working hard. As a result of this kind of attitude, the working environment is very relaxed but production on the other hand suffers because there is not much control or direction.
2) Produce or Perish Leadership – This is High Production/Low People. This can be also known as Authoritarian or Compliance Leaders. The leaders in this category usually see employees as a means to the end. The needs of the employees are always second to the needs for an efficient and productive workplace. The leadership style is very autocratic with strict rules, policies and procedures. They also see punishment as the best and most effective means to motivate employees.
3) Impoverished Leadership – This is Low Production/Low People. This is the type of leader that is mostly ineffective. They do not have a high regard in getting any work done, nor do they create a working environment which satisfies and motivates employees. This therefore leads to a disorganised, dissatisfying and disharmonic working environment.
4) Middle-of-the-Road Leadership – This is Medium Production/Medium People. This style of leadership is a balance between the two concerns. It may seem as if it is the ideal compromise, however when compromising, parts of each of the concerns are given away so that neither production nor people needs are fully met. This is usually used by leaders who don’t mind to settle for average performance as they usually believe that this is the most anyone can expect.
5) Team Leadership – This is High Production/High People. Based on the Managerial Grid by Blake Mouton, this is the top of all the managerial styles. These are the leaders who concentrate on production levels and the needs of the people with equal weighting. The main idea with these leaders is that the people are involved in understanding the organisational purposes and help to determine production needs. Once the employees are committed, their needs and the production needs begin to coincide and this helps to create a team environment which is based on trust and respect as well as high satisfaction and motivation levels that in turn help to lead to high production levels.
In my job, the manager that I have would probably be considered as a Produce or Perish Leader. I work in a call centre where we conduct tele-marketing, therefore production is the most important aspect of my job. If the surveys are not completed and not done to the best of their ability then there are many other problems which can be created. Therefore, for my manager to be strict in the sense that she is just focused on getting the daily strike rate of surveys done, is quite beneficial to the company. On the other hand, it can be quite de-motivating at time because of the way that the production needs are put before the needs of the employees and this makes many employees feel like they are not being treated as well as they could be.
Steve Jobs is the co-founder and chief-executive or Apple. He is a very influential leader in the business world because he has been well known for his aggressive and demanding personality. Jobs has always aspired to take Apple and its products to a position right at the forefront of the industry and he does this by foreseeing trends with a lot of innovation and style. This article shows how Steve Jobs has developed his leadership styles and skills throughout his career: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_06/b3970001.htm
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