Management and Leadership
The Assessment Task
This paper brings to light several concepts around leadership and management in an organisation. Organisational leadership, according to DICKENS, is defined as a double focused form of governance, that aims at conveying a platform best for an organisation to work. This paper is an in-depth analysis of the following topics:
- The impacts of leadership and management on the culture of an organisation
- Factors contributing to organisational dynamics, theoretical approaches to organisational behaviour
- The methods to organisational form and their implications to the working environment and organisational practice
- The models and techniques associated with organisational behaviour and the advantages and disadvantages of this model.
This paper consists of 5 main parts. Each of these sections tackles a single topic, as shown above.
Impact of management and leadership on the culture of the organisation.
The leadership and management of an organisation either directly or indirectly impact the culture of the organisation. For the customs of Alibaba foundation to be felt and become visible, its leadership which begins from the chief Executive Officer, Jack Ma, plays the significant role. Leaders and managers directly or indirectly affect the corporate culture of an organisation. Organisational culture includes communication in the organisation, the delegation of duties and leadership.
The management and leadership staff should be role models for the other employees and workers of the organisation. They hold the vision of the company hence should uphold company norms and disciplines. By setting an excellent example to their teams, managers encourage their staff to enforce the organisation’s culture. Transparent and clear communications will promote good feedback and strengthen a rapport between management and organisations. Transparent interface makes it easy for the administration to convey the organisation’s culture with the staff.
Leadership and management of an organisation will positively affect the culture of an organisation only if we address the following fundamental factors are addressed. First, laying out a clear and precise vision for the organisation. A clear vision will encourage the staff to buy the idea and develop an engagement culture from the members. Once people can see where a company is heading, it becomes easy for them to take up their roles and work to fulfil it. Secondly, the staff should be empowered. The administration should enable the team in accountability, authority and responsibility. When are given the power to take responsibility, it creates leadership on all of the organisation levels. The third factor is ethics and support values. Management that upholds integrity, honesty and responsibility directly affect the ethical culture of the company. This will then be emulated by the staff and positively affect the general culture of an organisation.
Factors contributing to organisational dynamics, their relative merits and impact within different organisational contexts
An organisational dynamic, according to (…) is organisational behaviour. It entails consolidating resources to promote performance by employees. It is how the management of the organisation helps to learn within the organisation and induction of better business practices in the organisation.
Three main factors contribute to the behaviour of an organisation which and they are as follows:
Ethics and values of the organisation
Any organisation and management should have their standard ethics and practices. Ethics bring out a balance between trust, justice and integrity among individuals in the organisation. Ethics provide a mechanism through which challenges affecting the organisation can be addressed. For example, by upholding integrity as part of your company’s ethics, leadership is expected to avoid compromise when handling a problem within the organisation. Ethics require that a leader becomes fair and unbiased. This will be emulated by the staff and ends up being a requirement for the general staff.
Leadership
Leadership is the core principle that determines the behaviour of the organisation. An organisation consists of subjects and leadership. These groups are liable to change. This change becomes challenging to handle by the administration. Management and guidance should be able to handle these groups of people in the right direction. Management is simple if it is honest, fair, and has respect for all its staff.
This type of leadership will determine how the leadership is perceived by its staff. This perception by the team will assess the organisations dynamic in turn. For example, leadership that does not possess the required ethics, communication, and strength is likely to harm the organisational dynamics. I will induce dishonesty, corruption and demotivation among members.
The Organization’s Structure
An organisations structure is the formal, layout of the relationship among people in an organisation. It outlines, the roles and plans of the whole organisation. For example, it would include, the executive, account assemblers and other secondary staff in case of a bank organisation. Each of the structural segment has different people performing different activities but they wholesomely work for the benefit of the organisation.
A poorly organised structure will induce disorganisation on the organisational dynamic. The duo is related structurally and if one fails to be addressed, they both fail. Currently, many structures have been flattered and destroyed due to the pressure of lowering costs and increasing on the profit and this negatively affects the organisations dynamics.
different theoretical approaches to organisational behaviour and the impact that it has on both the individual and group dynamics
Organisational behaviour is key in determining the overall success of an organisation since it directly affects both the individual persons and the group dynamics. It is applying knowledge on human behaviour and how the behaviour is addressed within an organisation. The theories for organisational behaviour aid businesses, schools, and governments to develop a structure that could best function with this organisation. It also aids determine the type of technology to be used by the organisation.
The following are the different approaches to organisational behaviour and the impact that it has on both the individual and the groups dynamics.
Motivation:
According to Robbins, 1992, “motivation is the willingness to do something, and is conditioned by this action’s ability to satisfy some need for the individual.” Research by Douglas McGregor has shown that motivation is key in determining organisational behavior. He advanced on Maslow’s needs concept, and developed mechanism on how it can be applied in the workplace. He developed a management approach after realising that most managers made assumptions concerning their employers. He came up with two theories basing on this assumption: Theory X and Theory Y.
Theory X
In this theory, the management assumes that all employees inherently hate work. The approach revealed that since employees’ dislike work, they have to be controlled, coerced, ruled and even threatened by punishment to make them productive at work. A worker in this theory has no ambitions; they are not self-directed and most often avoid accountability and responsibility. They generally seek for security and are optimistic for the financial rewards and wages. (Robbins 1992)
Theory Y
Theory Y workers find their jobs natural and associated with rest or play. McGregor explains that these workers are self-directed, self-motivated and exercise self-control in their work places. They have a sense of direction and aim at achieving the objectives to which they are committed for. They are open for accountability, and responsibility. McGregor stated that in order to make good use of a Theory y worker they should be allowed to engage in management positions. They should be allowed to participate in decision making processes and giving them responsibility. They will become more effective. (Robbins, 1992)
Personality:
Understanding the average personality of the employees in an organisation is very essential in determining the behavior of the organisation. Personality is the active organisation that comes from the psychological system of an individual and determines his/her character and behavior. According to Gordon Allports definition. Most of the individuals in the organisation are likely to have different types and kinds of personalities, which impact both the employees and management of the organisation. However, this can be used by managers in selection to induce high profits for their businesses. For example, a satisfied and high performing employee is most likely to be considered by matching their personality with a compatible job. They organisation will be able to save on money spent on recruiting and training of new employees to the organisation.
Approaches to organisational form and their implications to the working environment and organisational practice
An organisational form is the structure of an organisation and it entails coordination, allocation and supervision of the organisation. The aim of the organisational form is to lay down a plan through which the objectives of the organisation can be achieved. The structure directly affects the organisation’s actions, operating procedures, routine test and provides a solid foundation for the organisation’s functionality. There are several organisational forms depending on the nature of the organisation and/or business. However, the major organisational forms include functional structure, divisional structure and the divisional structure.
Functional Structure
This is the simplest form and model of organisational structure. It is a basic structure and has organised layout of channels for communication. It has a well-defined responsibility to authority relationships, how they can be handled and managed. This form of an organisation dramatically enhances the productivity of an organisation by promoting specialisation. It promises minimal duplication of instruments and personnel. This structure makes training of employees straightforward. Most employees are comfortable with this organisational form.
However, the functional structure has a few downsides, which make it less appealing to some organisation. Due to centralisation of authority, communication and decision-making processes are slowed. They have to follow a hierarchical procedure which consumes a lot of time. The next disadvantage comes due to specialisation on only one field in the organisation. Managers lack the opportunity to understand how all the departments in the organisation function and how to relate each of the individual fields to the organisation. Due to this specialisation, managers are narrowed in their perspectives about the organisation. For example, a manager that s not specialised in marketing is unable to relate to consumer needs. This results in slow responses to consumer needs and desires, which can significantly slow the organisation and cut on profits when the customer needs change.
Divisional structure
This type of structure is mostly found in large companies and organisations. Divisional structure entails division of products and activities into different departments of the company. However, these departments depend on the company policies and according to the organisation’s output. For example, the departments can be structured according to production, customer service or research. The grouping of these departments to distinguish their differences forms The Divisional Structure mode of organisational form. This structure is simple and flexible compared to the Functional Structure.
Matrix structure
The third type of organisational forms is the Matrix structure, which is a combination of both the functional and divisional structures. It functions by using permanent and reliable cross-functional teams. These are integrated into the organisation with the divisional structure focus. The structure consists of two groups in operation at the same time, which are the project team and the functional group. Both sides have separate bosses with whom they are answerable.
This structure is highly appreciated and increases motivation among employees in the organisation. Here are a few advantages of this structure: increased cooperation among employees, flexibility in the organisation, improved customer service, enhanced strategic management, and improved accountability and responsibility among employees.
Nonetheless, this structure has a few drawbacks, which include instability of the organisation due to power wrangles. The two-boss system leads to competition among supervisors with almost the same position. A matrix structure can lead to task confusion and task overlap if the roles are not well stated out for staff holding a similar situation. The uncertainty can also result from employees receiving directives from the two-boss system. The third drawback is the increase in management cost. The increased number of managers due to the added team leaders eventually increase the value, especially for larger organisations.
Models, concepts and techniques associated with organisational behaviour
The Autocratic Model
(Source: Gregory Moorhead and Rickyw Griffin: Organisational Behavior.)
The autocratic model of organisational behavior is mainly associated with authority and managerial orientation. The boss is given power to foresee all activities of the organisation. This model orients the employees to depend on the boss, and obey him/her wholly. It promises little benefit for the employee, and as a result, the employees’ productivity is minimal.
The boss issues the orders and instructions which the employees have to obey as subjects. achievements of this type, is pegged on the employees’ liking towards their boss or due to other factor. The principal weakness of this model is on the human cost.
The Custodial Model
The custodian model is mainly oriented to money. It aims at utilising the least resources but realises the most out of the profit. As a result, the employees are also oriented towards personal gain and dependence on the business. The employees in this model find security when their needs are met. To ensure this security, organisations adopted programs like welfare projects and on-site daycare centres. These programs then make the employees dependent on the organisation. This results in responsibility and accountability by the employees to those organisations. This makes the performance passive. Nonetheless, this model suffers drawbacks such us demotivation from employees. They cannot perform more than expected, and the business or organisation stagnates.
The Supportive Model
The supportive model is leadership whose management is aimed at providing support to its employees. The employees are, in turn, triggered to increase their performance and participation in activities. Recognition is key to outstanding employees. It is mainly entangled in managerial leadership and not on money or authority. This model provides an excellent atmosphere to help employees grow and add on to the success of the organisation.
CONCLUSION
This paper was mainly focusing on leadership and management with its impact on the culture of an organisation, factors that contribute to organisational dynamics, theories that relate to organisational behaviour, the different organisational forms and their implications on the working environment. The last section of this paper consists of the different organisation models and suggestions on which ones work best, ones which can be emulated together with their advantages and disadvantages.