- Managerial Leadership
IGI Global defines Managerial leadership as “leadership that sets organizational goals, does needs analysis, sets achievable priorities including, planning, budgeting, implementing, and evaluating organizational performance.” From this definition, it clear that managerial leadership combines both management and leadership skills to ensure the effective management of an organization. Managerial leadership skills that can effectively improve an organization include charisma and power to motivate. Similarly, the ability to manage people and resources in the organization can play a massive role in the success of any organization.
Personality is one of the essential skills that a managerial leader needs to possess. A leader who has a good personality will find it easy to speak and motivate his workers in his organization (McCormick, 1). To do this, the leader will command respect from his peers, and thus once he makes decisions, the crew that he leads will trust him to take into consideration the greater good of the team and the organization (McCormick, 2). Similarly, charisma helps a managerial leader to clearly and convincingly state the objectives of any projects that they may have. The team readily embraces a well-understood agenda and set of ways to achieve it follows suit.
Resource management is an essential skill in managerial leadership. There are many instances where it is easy to find a good leader who is a poor manager! (Akrani) An excellent managerial leader can budget for the limited resources at their disposal to realize the goals that are set by the organization. In the end, limited resources can achieve the list of the organization and handle employees’needs like salaries. Most of the time, a managerial leader will evaluate and know the items that will need priority. Identifying priority items or goals at any given time makes it easy to avoid wastage and deal with the most important things first.
Moreover, a managerial leader can align those who work in their organization with visions of the organization. When people share the vision of an organization, it makes it easy for them to adjust their activities and skills to be in line with the goals that are set to be achieved in the organization. This is usually done using the most persuasive way that a leader can muster (McCormick, 3). Once a managerial leader persuades their team, it becomes easy to run the organization and achieve the set-out plans. Mentorship skills are also essential in any administrative leadership engagements. The ability to mentor others help the organization increase the number of people with skills and a shared vision for the organization. This means that the people below the ranks of the leader will have similar capabilities that their leader does; thus, decision making will become easier.
In a sporting field, the already discussed skills are essential during the administrative periods. Sports administrators with the ability to make decisive decisions and present them to the coaching staff and the sports team players will find make it easy for them to share in his vision for the team. Since he will be responsible for the enforcement of most of the rules, involving mots of the members in the decisions made will help them see the reasoning behind all the arrangements.
The sporting field requires teamwork. An administrator with managerial leadership skills will strive to maintain harmony in the coaching staff and players. Proper management of resources will make it easy for all the requirements of the players to be made available to them and thus easing their training activities. The administrator will know how to motivate the team when he realizes that it is losing its morale. A right way of doing this is giving a good pep talk before they go for competitive activity.
Indeed, managers do things right while leaders do the right things. This means that while a manager only strives to keep the organization running, through proper budgeting staffing,
and problem solving, a leader will strive to offer better communication inspiration and mentorship to ensure that those he leads share his vision (McCormick, 1). Both management and leadership are required. As a leader, the players and staff members will need to align themselves with the motto, dreams, and vision of the club they represent. Motivating the players will heavily rely on the leader and the strategies that they will be willing to employ. Several means motivate both the staff and players.
For instance, a leader will provide bonuses for the players and staff whenever there is a display of good results during competitions. Similarly, it is a great motivation when there is continuous communication from a leader to the team and players. Communication as a tool needs to involve staff and players. Many times, managers make mistakes because they only communicate with their staff. As opposed to this, it is essential to talk with the staff and the players. The exchange between the leadership team makes it possible for them to know that they can approach you in case they need help.
A leader who embraces management skills will be able to ensure that clarifies some of the matters that may arise to cause some conflict. For instance, it is common to have delays in the procurement of equipment or payment of salaries for both staff and players. A good Managerial leader will ensure the team knows the reason behind the failures and tell the group the measures that are in place to make things right.
- Decision Making
The Decision-making process is essential in the day to day aspects of life. As individuals, we make decisions all the time, and some of the decisions work for us, or they go against us. There are three models of decision making. The three models include rational, administrative person and implicit favorite models. Each of the models offers different alternative features that are distinctive depending on the surrounding situations that they are made.
The rational person model considers all the logical choices that are available to achieve maximum results for the good of an organization (Verma, 171). This model follows a four-step sequence to arrive at a given decision. The first step in this model is to identify the problem that needs to be addressed. Once the problem id identified, the people involved looking for alternative solutions that can alleviate the problem. A proper and more in-depth analysis is done to arrive at the most suitable answer from the list of alternative solutions. Upon choosing the solution, the last step in this model is to implement and later evaluate the solution.
The administrative person model is not rational. This is because the people who are involved in the making of decisions have different motivations and demands that must be met. Therefore, most of them follow short cuts to find solutions that seem acceptable to a larger group of people (Verma, 172). The short cut is sought because the timeframe for decision making is usually quick. The choices made in this case are satisfactory since they are above the minimum alternative values. The advantage, in this case, is the time that is saved through the making of the decision in the shortest time possible.
The implicit favorite model is an attempt that is made to justify some of the decisions that have already been made. Once the decisions are made, the involved person tries to look are the rationality of the decisions (Chandra). In most cases, the implicit favorite model features limited processing of information and selection of solutions that require minimum input in terms of resources but remain good enough at the time that they are made.
Faced with a chance of hiring a manager, I will use the rational person model. The reason I will choose this model is that it allows me the time to identify the problem at hand. Identification of the problem will enable me to put down the qualities of the manager that will be needed based on the skills and the vision of the Miami Marlins. By so doing, I will lay down all the choices of managerial skills and come up with the right assessment process for those who will submit their application letters.
The rationale model offers clear objectives. In this case, the aim is to find the most suitable candidate who will be able to lead the Miami Marlin team to glory in the field of baseball. With this clear objective, I will be able to pick the best alternatives from the candidates that will apply for the job. Similarly, this model viable because I will be able to anticipate the consequences of the choice of manager that I will choose. If I make the wrong choice of the manager that I hire, the result will be the team’s downfall. Therefore, I will need to make a rational decision.
Based on rationality I will be able to look at the information presented to me from the candidates applying for the job and pick one who shows the most relevant and attractive alternative based on their experience in the management of baseball, the clubs that they have managed, their success in the field of baseball among other things. In anticipatory of the present and prospects of the team, I will be able to carry out the background check of the person applying for the job and find out if the information that they offer aligns with what is known about them in the field of baseball. By considering all these things, I will be able to pick a manager who will provide the best services for the present and future success of the Miami Marlin baseball team.
While the rational model of decision making provides the best option for me, there is a possibility of some biases arising during the process. As a manager, I trust teamwork and participatory reasoning when making decisions I find it easy to make decisions when more people are offering alternative views on how things need to be done. The only thing that the model provides is a structure that can be followed. The absence of how presents a challenge to many, and that is why I encourage group participation during the process. In the absence of a team of other leaders, making an informed decision may become a challenge.
Similarly, I tend to rely on my intuition when I decide alone. There is, therefore, a likelihood of me trying to hire a manager who will most likely have the type of skills that I display. This is very dangerous because the possibility of a person faking is more straightforward. Some scholars have touted intuition as impeding rationality in decision making (Chandra). Although I fully trust my guts when it comes to what I do, it is worth noting that my guts have turned out to be wrong! Whichever the case, once a decision needs to be made, one has to make it. As a general manager, I will strive to do the best for the Miami marlin team.
Participative decision making is essential because it allows the staff and team members in the decision-making process. In this case, a leader initiates the conversation by sharing the information about the decision that needs to be made. Once the information is revealed, the leader offers the team members the opportunity to share their ideas, which the leader synthesizes and comes up with the most suitable solution. The decision made can either be democratic, collective, consensus or autocratic (Psychologia). Whichever choice that one makes, there are advantages and disadvantages associated with the whole process.
Involving members in the decision-making process clearly shows that you value them and their inputs in the organization that you lead (Psychologia). Having this in mind creates a long-lasting bond. Similarly, a feeling of being valued motivates the members to offer the best for the organization because they tend to align themselves with the choices that you make together. Failure arising from the decision will not be blamed on you, but rather, the whole team will share it. Therefore, the members will be committed to the decision for the good of the organization.
Participative decision making may also have their shortcomings. First, it may take a long time to arrive at a collective decision (Chandra). It is also possible that the members involved in decision making may be swayed by their peers to agree to some group decisions. This doesn’t seem right because it prevents others from offering alternative solutions that they might have. There is a likelihood of spending vast amounts of money due to logistics and refreshments during the meetings, thus making it a costly exercise. Relying on participatory decision making reduces the ability of a manager to act quickly whenever the need arises.
Despite the shortcomings associated with participatory decision making, in my process of hiring the manager for the Miami Marlin team, I will rely on it. I will depend on participatory decision-making to ensure that the manager that arrives will work in tandem with the team’s aspirations. It is worth noting that the manager will be coming to offer services for the team. Therefore, providing an opportunity for all the team members to suggest the kind of manager they will need will be essential to the side.
The manager will be coming in with new policies for the management of the team affairs; if the members are involved in making a decision on the criteria and the type of manager that they will need, they will embrace the new policies that the manger will bring into the team with much ease. Furthermore, there is a likelihood that some of the members know some of the managers line up for hire. The members conversant with the conduct of the shortlisted candidate can be helpful when it comes to the final decision making through the information they provide. Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, I make better decisions when I involve others. Therefore, by including the coaching staff and the team members in the decision making, I will be able to look at all the details for an informed decision that will be accepted by all the members of the Miami Marlin Major League team.
Works Cited
Akrani, Guaravi. Managerial Leadership Qualities: Leadership Theories. Retrieved May 17, 2020, from https://kalyan-city.blogspot.com/2010/07/managerial-leadership-leader-qualities.html
Chand, Smriti. Models of Decision Making: Rational, Administrative, and Retrospective Decision Making Models. Retrieved May 17, 2020, from https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/decision-making/models-of-decision-making-rational-administrative-and-retrospective-decision-making-models/25658
IGI Global. What is Managerial Leadership? Retrieved May 17, 2020, from https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/effective-educational-leadership-in-the-digital-age/61308
McCormick, Michael. Top 10 Leadership Qualities of a Manager. Retrieved May 17, 2020, from http://www.mccormickpcs.com/images/Top_10_Leadership_Qualities.pdf
Psychologia. Participative Leadership Theory and Decision Making Style. Retrieved May 17, 2020, from https://psychologia.co/participative-leadership/
Verma, Deepika. “Study and analysis of various decision-making models in an organization.” IOSR Journal Of Business And Management 16.2 (2014): 171-175.