Managers, Leadership & Decision-making...

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What do managers actually do?

Managers organise and galvanise staff into implementing the strategies needed to achieve the business objectives.

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What is the role of managers?

  • Setting Objectives = managers need a clear idea of what they want to achieve, influenced by the corporate objective. The objectives need to be SMART and easily remembered by staff.
  • Analysing = analysing the underlying conditions that the business is set to face, analysing performance of different staff and analysing how effectively objectives are being met.
  • Leading = inspiring staff commitment to achieving goals (through charisma, control and direction).
  • Making decisions = they must make quick and effective decisions - in some cases authority may be delegated from the manager to juinor staff.
  • Reviewing = reviewing poor and successful decision making, helping the business in the long term to learn from their mistakes.
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What is the definition for leadership?

Leadership means taking the initiative to set clear objectives and to motivate or guide staff towards their achievement. 

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Autocratic Leaders...

  • Born authoritarian telling employees what to do and do not listen to what workers have to say themselves.
  • Tend to use one-way, top-down communication.
  • They want to give orders to workers and do not want feedback.
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Democratic Leaders...

  • Like to invlove their workers in decisions.
  • Listen to employees' ideas and ensure people contribute to the discussion.
  • Communication tends to be two-way.
  • Bosses put forward an idea and employees give their opinion.
  • Regularly delegate decision-making power to junior staff.
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Delegation can be appraoched one of two ways -

Management by objectives:

  • The leader agrees to clear goal with staff, providing the necessary resources and allows day-to-day decisions to be made by junior staff.
  • These goals will be SMART.
  • Junior staff efforts will then be monitored.

Laissez-faire:

  • 'let it be'.
  • this occurs when the leader is so busy or so lazy that they do not take time to ensure that junior staff know what to do or how to do it.
  • Some juniors may respond well to the task as it gives a sense of freedom, but others may become frustrated.
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Paternalistic Leaders...

  • Thinks and acts like a father.
  • Tries to do the best for their staff.
  • There may be consultation to find out the views of employees but decisions are made at the top.
  • Believe employees need direction, but thinks it's important that they are supported and cared for properly.
  • Interested in the social and security needs of staff.
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Autocratic (assumptions & approaches)

  • Orders must be obeyed.
  • Payment by results, e.g. piece-rate pay.
  • Recruitment and training based on skills.
  • Appraisal linked to pay.
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Democratic (assumptions & approaches)

  • Delegation of authority.
  • Salary, perhaps plus employee shareholdings.
  • Recruitment and training based on attitudes and teamwork.
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Paternalistic (assumptions & approaches)

  • Consultation with staff.
  • Salary, plus extensive fringe benefits.
  • Emphasis on training.
  • Appraisal for personal development.
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Blake Mouton Grid -

  • Analyses styles of leadership.
  • Looks at two leadership behaviours; 'concern for people' and 'concern for performance'.
  • Grades people on each of these scales to formulate a judgement on the type of leader they are.

The labels for co-ordinates for the 5 leadership styles were -

  • 9,9 - Team Management / Teamwork
  • 9,1 - Authority / Obedience.
  • 5,5 - Middle-of-the-road Management.
  • 1,9 - Country Club Management.
  • 1,1 - Impoverished Management.
  • SEE BOOK FOR DIAGRAM
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9,9 - Team Management / Teamwork:

  • The boss shows interest and trust in staff.
  • Full belief in the synergy implied by successful teamwork.
  • The determination to succeed would make it tough for any team member not contributing effectively.
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9,1 - Authority / Obedience:

  • A overriding drive to succeed.
  • Leader's terms - 'my way or the highway'.
  • Staff are truly human resources to be used or cast aside like othe resources.
  • Strongly linked to an autocratic / authoritarian leadership style.
  • Success in short-term.
  • Staff will leave in long term.
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5,5 - Middle Of The Road Mangement:

  • A decent attempt to get the best of both worlds.
  • Struggling to succeed for both performance and concern for people.
  • OK but not great performance.
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1,9 - Country Club:

  • The boss is a really nice person and staff love him/her.
  • Workers take advantage of the situation.
  • Lack of urgency about getting things done.
  • Poor productivity.
  • Can only survive if monopoly power is keeing competition away from the business.
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1,1 - Impoverished Management:

  • The boss has neither concern for the staff, nor the performance of the business.
  • Some have related this to the critisisms of Laissez-faire management.
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Oppotunistic Approach -

In later development of their theory, Blake and Mouton accepted a 6th possibility of an entirely opportunistic approach to leader ship in which the leader could adopt any style that would help a specific objective.

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The Tannenbaum Schmidt Continuum -

  • Found a way to present leadership characteristics more dynamically than Blake's Grid.
  • The grid implied that a boss will ALWAYSbe a 1,9 or a 5,5.
  • The continuum suggests that people centred leadership skills can be learned and developed.
  • (SEE DIAGRAM).
  • The single issue is a scale relating to the degree of which staff are involved in decision making.
  • On the left is the autocratic processes.
  • It  is steadily softened by mid-way where the manager presents a decision but allows a degree of consultation and discussion in which the decision may change.
  • Further towards the right, consultation develops into delegation and allowing staff to make decisions for themselves.
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Strengths of Blake's Grid

  • Measures 2 factors:concern for poeple ad concern for drive/performance; the continuum only measures the leader's use of people.
  • The understanding that some leaders are driven soley by results/success is perhaps why Blake's grid is more widely known among managers than the continuum.
  • The label's used such as 'country club' and 'obedience' make it easy for managers to visualise the type of person implied to each category. They then talk about the grid and learn to use it.
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Strengths of Tannenbaum Schmidt Continuum -

  • The focus on the bosses use of his/her people gives an interesting amount of detail about the range of approaches between the two extremes (autocratic & democratic).
  • Gives a basis for analysis and action, such as persuading new section leaders to get training on how to develop their leadership style.
  • Bosses a measure by which they could judge their own approach to leadership.
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