Two Current Management And Leadership Theories Management Essay

Introduction

The purpose of the following task is to write a literature review on two current management and leadership theories. The impact on how the selected theories of management and leadership have on an organisational strategy will be examined. Then a leadership strategy will be created which can support the organisational direction. Hence in task 2, strategic management and leadership will be explored. Two management and leadership theories will be discussed and linked to a selected organisation. The final part is to design a leadership strategy for the chosen organisation.

Leadership and management is a repetitious process to a great extent that has been improved over years of study. Theorists have helped by building up a firm and wide understanding of this subject by contributing their major researches to existing ones. Leaders and managers in an organisation can be developed in various ways as there is not only a single correct way of doing it. But many organisations show that there are similar features or attributes about leadership. Different theories have their impact, benefits and drawbacks depending on the culture, size and situation of the organisation.

In other words, the concepts and theories which have been researched and developed over time have contributed to gain deeper understanding of the nature of managerial work and the role and work of a leader. Thus organisations can derive their own unique way to identify and develop managerial and leadership competency by combining these concepts and theories in the right way.

Task 2

2.1. Review the impact that selected theories of management and leadership have on organisational strategy

In this part, two management and leadership theories will be chosen and reviewed to show the impact of them on an organisation. The two theories I have chosen for literature review are: 1) Situational and Contingency (behavioural and style) theory of leadership and 2) Transformational leadership theory. According to Carmichael, J. et al. (2011), “in situational theory of management, analyses and syntheses of workflows are essential, with the objective of improving labour productivity and increased output”. Since individuals are different from each other, a most efficient way that works for a person may not work for another person. Most of the time, management and workers’ economic interests are not similar. Management may apply certain strategies whereby the workforce can disagree and do not accept to abide by. So there is resentment between employees and employers. Due to these two main reasons mentioned, it is important to analyse and synthesise workflow in an organisation.

Referring to Fiedler’s contingency model (Carmichael, J. et al.: 2011), it is argued that a leader’s effectiveness is based on situational contingency which is a combination of leadership style and situational favourableness. This model involves a potential leader and assessing his/her style of work from task oriented to relationship oriented. Then factors such as stress level, type of work, flexibility to change in groups, use of technology and coordination of resources, people and tasks are being explored and the correct style of management is being implemented. Also the style chosen depends on both internal and external factors of the organisation. There was a link between situational and contingency theories when the idea about an existing single correct solution to organisations was dropped out. Similarities were found between the two theories and hence there was a merger of ideologies constituting that effectiveness of a group requires a leader’s style and situational demands to match. A leader’s role is structured by three hierarchical aspects. They are namely the confidence and loyalty that a group feels towards the leader, the ambiguity or clarity in the structure of the tasks given to the group and lastly the power exerted by the leader in group performance.

The next theory of management and leadership reviewed is transformational leadership theory. It is said that apart from being concerned and involved in the process, transformational leaders are also focused on supporting his/her group members so that they can succeed as well. Since leaders are usually energetic and enthusiastic, the group members are very motivated and have high level of morale to work and achieve the goals. Transformational leaders possess strength of vision and personality which enable them to inspire their group members to change their expectations and perceptions towards achieving the common goals of the organisation. As the word ‘transform’ means creating significant change, similarly, transformational approach is to bring significant change in the life of both the organisation and its people. It is important to know the impact of transformational leadership on a group as the leaders will gain trust, respect and admiration from the members. This type of leader is able to also stimulate the subordinates’ thinking and pay attention to the people’s needs.

Moreover, transformational leaders encourage their group members’ creativity. They encourage the subordinates to explore new ways of doing things. They also offer support and encouragement to individuals. The line of communication between such leaders and the co-workers is always opened. This type of leader believes in sharing ideas and recognition of subordinates’ contributions. Transformational leaders help their group members to feel motivated and passionate towards fulfilling the organisational goals. They usually act as a role model for the people they work with, thus making the relationship between the leaders and subordinates more strong.

2.2. Create a leadership strategy that supports organisational direction

A leadership strategyA allows the organisation to identify how many leaders are needed, what kind, where, with what skills and how they behave individually and in groups. The current situation and the goals the organisation are required to be analysed and then a leadership strategy can be developed. Hence the gap between the current situation and the desired future can be reduced. The chosen organisation in this case is ‘William Hills’, the betting shop whereby it has lots of competitors such as Ladbrokes, Coral, Paddy Power, and many more.

Following is a leadership strategy created for William Hills that can support the organisational direction. The vision statement of William Hills states that they want to be the first betting shop that comes to the mind of an individual when they want to bet, thus William Hills would like to attract more customers than any other betting organisations. Table 1 shows the key factors known as the key drivers that the leaders need for key decision making and the implications.

Table 1: Key drivers for decision making

William Hills is using a combination of situational and contingency theory with transformational leadership style in their view of trying to improve their customer service. The change in management and leadership style has happened as the communication was only one way from top management level to low management level and the leaders were more autocratic in the past. But nowadays to achieve the organisational goal, there have been drastic changes due to high rate of conflicts of interests, high turnover of employees and poor customer appreciation. For the past few years employees were not happy as they had a lot of issues with the managers. The shop managers were just carrying out their normal managerial duties without knowing what their subordinates were going through. Employees were losing their motivation to work.

Luckily, leaders at William Hills decided to implement the theories of management and leadership. In the present time, managers are getting more involved in the activities taking place at the various shops. They are working closely to their subordinates, supporting them where necessary. In this process, managers are being trained about the jobs that subordinates are doing and vice versa. The change in management has brought this change as these leaders believe that when managers are involved in the processes more often and deeply, they will be able to support their subordinates as they will have a full understanding of the situation. Similarly, some potential subordinates with leadership skills are being selected and sent to management trainings. This way, the subordinates will have a better understanding of the manager’s position. Hence the job is done through collaboration of each party and communication is more effective. This results to a two way communication system.

Another benefit of implementing the theories is that the relationships between the managers and subordinates are becoming stronger and there is less resistance to changes towards achieving the organisational goal. The working environment has become more pleasant to work in. All employees have been given a dress code where they would look more formal and professional. The leaders believe that it is important for the employees to project themselves in a well dressed manner in front of the customers. In the past, subordinates did not have a say in decision making process. But since the implementation of the theories, the work has become more relationship oriented than task oriented. Although the main goal that the leaders want to achieve is more into the business line, they also think that employees who have direct contacts with clients or customers are more likely to be the better person to take decisions. So nowadays, employees are involved in the decision making process by inputting their ideas, thoughts, creativity, experience and many more. Hence, these theories have been proven to be very beneficial to the organisation. In addition to, the employees are being continuously trained with new skills and are given opportunities to enhance their knowledge further. There are plans also for those employees who have the potential to become leaders to be sent to universities to follow management and leadership courses and a degree at the end and implement the knowledge in the real life situations.