Theories Of Management And Leadership On Strategy

Different Management and Leadership theories are adopted by the organisations to achieve their goals. Leaders possess a certain type of skills, which enables them to follow any theory in a given situation. The decision making process need to be flexible enough to adapt any kind of environment since outcome from it will be have a great impact on organisation, that impact can be on strategy, goals or its culture.

Theories of Leadership and Management

Different Leadership and Management theories are:

The Trait Theory

This theory is derived from ‘the great man’ theory, which identifies the key characteristics of a good and successful leader. They have personality, dominance, charisma, self-confidence, achievements and ability to formulate a clear vision

It is believed that through this approach critical leadership traits could be isolated and that people with such traits could then be recruited, selected, and installed into leadership positions.

The table below lists the main leadership traits and skills identified by Stogdill in 1974.

Traits

Skills

– -Adaptable to situations

– Alert to social environment

– Assertive

– Cooperative

– Decisive

– Dependable

– Dominant (desire to influence others)

– Energetic (high activity level)

– Persistent

– Self-confident

– Tolerant of stress

– Willing to assume responsibility

– Clever (smart and intelligent)

– Conceptually skilled

– Creative

– Diplomatic and tactful

– Fluent in speaking

– Knowledgeable about group task

– Organised (administrative ability)

– Persuasive

– Socially skilled

Impact on Organisational Strategy

A leader with these traits and skills is able to drive the organisation. It is of this reason that Armed Forces around the world look for these traits in the candidates for the commission.

For-example: At PCW, where high dedication from Manager is required, if they don’t have a charismatic figure or lack self confidence than how they will motivate their team or employees. Before a leader leads other, it needs to lead itself, this is called self-leadership. It begins with introspection and development of one’s emotional intelligence. They need to explore their inner self before they lead others.

Leader is responsible for everything the team does or fails to do. Since they are in direct contact with employees so they need to have following traits and act as a role-model.

At organisational level, leaders are required to influence the whole organisation by managing the cultural norms, rewards and recognition programs, and communication.

When they get at a high level where they have to lead a city, state or a multi-national corporation, they require power of persuasion and charisma, if they are going to get elected.

Their self-confidence enables them to challenge change, and their communication skills helps them to gain trust of others, since they have persuasion power.

The point where Traits Theory fails is when following questions are asked

Do these traits produce successful leaders?

Is leadership more than just bringing change?

Leaders are born or can they be made?

The trait theory unfortunately does not prescribe the most effective traits that successful leaders should have. Nonetheless, the theory makes good sense when interpreting successful leaders with their remarkable traits. The most important problem in applying it is how leaders can know better about themselves and their leadership qualities.

Transformational Theory

James MacGregor wrote in his Burns ‘Leadership’ was the first to put forward the concept of

“Transforming leadership”. To MacGregor transforming leadership “is a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts, followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents”. He also identified that: “[Transforming leadership] occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality…”

This theory is based on charismatic leaders, who have additional characteristics such as vision and development, and abilities to motivate it followers.

Impact on Organisational Strategy

Howell and Avolio (1999) assert that transformational leadership with its five key pillars – vision, inspiration, stimulation, coaching, and team building. And a leader with such characteristics will bring tremendous payoffs in business performance and innovation.

There are certain transformational leadership factors identified by Nahavandi, which are:

intellectual stimulation to generate new ideas and empowerment

charisma and inspiration to overcome resistance to change,

individual incentives and consideration to motivate and encourage the followers.

Since our current business environment is very dynamic, so does the need for change in leadership style. For-example: Back in days at PCW, managers with certain charismatic qualities were effective in Generation X, and were able to drive their followers. However this cannot be feasible for Generation Y, which is current situation. People values most on personal skills and development and prefer to work outside of the organisational boundary. Hence a Transformation theory is required.

In the same way, management theory practices in China cannot be practiced in US, since there are cultural differences, and this has a direct impact on organisational strategy.

Transformational Leadership is also not very perfect, it has its own flaws. This theory fails when a leader thinks that they have achieved everything; the false connection when its team members / followers do not respond appropriately and become ‘yes-man’; the fear of betrayal from followers.

Create a Leadership Strategy that supports organisational direction

As per Leadership Theories, a good leader has certain characteristics and skills. Leadership is not only a function of a position on an organisational chart, but also individual performance. Anyone ar any level of the organisation can be a leader. They are recognized for their leadership in setting the pace and high standards in their work.

STRATEGIC SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Leaders at all levels require skills and abilities in three broad areas:

Technical knowledge and skills required in the position, especially about executive information systems.

Interpersonal/communication knowledge and skills.

Conceptual skills which allow the strategic leader to make decisions and cope with the level of complexity associated with a particular position.

Leadership Strategy for PC World

Self-Leadership:

Before Leaders commit to lead others, they need to commit to themselves. Leaders need to ensure that they have qualities and characteristics of a good leader. They need to create a personal vision. They need to explore themselves first. What they can achieve with their talent, tools and time. They need to create a big picture of their vision and align it with that of organisation. Once that is down, the next step is to bring their followers on board, and align their motivation with PCW’s strategy.

To create a charismatic figure or to act as a role-model, leaders need to show concern for their employees. In old Model practiced that PCW, Leaders were in control of everything and they were driving the teams. They were doing what they wanted to do. Since the environment is changing so leaders need to transform themselves. They should give what the teams need not what they want. Leaders need to be available to the employees all the time, this is done by implementing open-door policy in the organisation. Leaders need to be democratic and should have a two way communication with the followers, unlike the old one-sided communication. This way they can get good feedback and complete tasks.

Team Leadership

This is very important in order to empower team member and their networking activities. It is helpful at PCW since there are people with different ethnic backgrounds and cultures. Everyone has different skills and fields of specialization. It is important for leaders to ensure that team members are selected on the basis of their field of specialization, unique talents, skills and share a same vision. Every team member need to play its own part and should not depend on others. Like in sales team, every member has its own sales target, which they have to achieve on their own. But this does not mean that members cannot take help from each other in case of stock control. Empowerment is promoted in the project teams, which enables them to make certain decisions, like sales assistant is empowered to make a sale or refuse it, or if they like to entertain the 2% discount on certain items.

When leaders are acting as a role-model they motivate the team and show them the good picture of the future.

Mentoring

Mentoring is another good strategy, for project based teams. It acts in two ways, one way is that people learn from their good leaders. The formula is to observe their leaders and learn from them. This is the idea of transformational leadership theory; the followers become leaders for others. On the other side it helps team-members to develop their personal skills. A sales assistant can follow the steps of their team leader and become a leader or a role model for other team-members, this way it can acts as a motivating factors. Leaders acting as a mentor need to provide assurance and personal reflective space, coaches set goals, identify solutions to problems, and provide feedback on the subordinates’ performance.