Assignment 220
Delp10
B207BPowerpoint-Week13.pptxB207B
Shaping Business Opportunities II
Block 3
Session 13: Leadership and management
What is leadership?
Leadership is a very important part of developing any ideas in business. As John Kotter (2013) puts it, ‘Leadership is associated with taking an organisation into the future, finding opportunities that are coming at it faster and faster and successfully exploiting those opportunities.’
But what exactly is leadership and how is it different to management? In this session you will investigate understandings of leadership and how it relates to management.
Session 13: Leadership and management
Leadership vs. management
Session 13: Leadership and management
Followership
The leadership as process model includes the influence of followership and, as Figure 1 illustrates, sees the relationship between leadership and followership as co-constructed: the one influences the other.
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
One of the challenges of thinking about leadership is the context in which it occurs.
Can we, for example, think of a good military leader in the same terms as the leader of a social enterprise?
Are leaders in the public services equipped with different skills and traits to those working in the private sector?
Are the tactics used by political leaders ethically acceptable in an organisational context?
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
What makes for good leadership?
While multilevel leadership is common and desirable in organisations, there are some elements of it that remain with ‘top management’: setting the strategic direction for the organisation.
This means thinking of strategic leadership, not just as a set of behaviours and competences but rather from a psychological and strategic perspective, which offers interesting insights into how leaders proactively drive the direction of their organisations
Session 13: Leadership and management
Strategic leadership
Strategic leadership theories are premised on the belief that strategic leadership is the leader’s ability to influence others to make day-to-day decisions that enhance the long term viability of the organization while at the same time maintaining its short term financial stability.
In order to do this, groups must be aware of the core aims of the organisation in order to work together to achieve them.
Strategic leadership recognises that although many researchers place great emphasis on strategic management, rational processes and planning, there is little coverage of the role that intuition and emotion play in the processes of leading an organisation.
Session 13: Leadership and management
Strategic leadership
In order to work properly, the purpose of the organisation (as articulated and embodied by the leadership/leadership team) must infuse the whole organisation.
The leadership not only sets the purpose but in so doing must be prepared to face (sometimes considerable) opposition from stakeholders, in order to achieve the organizational purpose.
Session 13: Leadership and management
Strategic leadership
This vision of leadership resonates within the work of individuals within the organisation – they can see the strategy and it aligns with the leadership and also the reasons why they initially joined the organisation.
leadership is not just a top down process but permeates the organization at every level, creating a sound rationale for operations and processes within it.
Session 13: Leadership and management
Block 3- Reading 22
Identifying leadership
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
Leadership as Person: is it WHO leaders are that makes them leaders?
Leadership as Result: is it WHAT leaders achieve that makes them leaders?
Leadership as Position: is it WHERE leaders operate that makes them leaders?
Leadership as Purpose: is it WHY leaders lead that makes them leaders?
Leadership as Process: is it HOW leaders get things done that makes them leaders?
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
Identifying leadership
Leadership can be conceptualized in a number of ways. Grint et al(2017):
Leadership as person
Leadership as result
Leadership as position
Leadership as purpose
Leadership as process
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
Leadership as a person
it focuses on an individual’s personality and qualities to define their potential as a leader.
Much of this approach to leadership derives from the idea that good (or great) leaders have certain traits that inspire their followers.
The approach initially drew from charismatic forms of military leadership but has latterly been criticised due to the fact that the model cannot reconcile the fact that an organisation can have an extremely charismatic leader and still fail.
The fascination with this type of model derives largely from the ability of individuals who possess such charisma, to motivate their staff and attract media coverage and political patronage of the organisation.
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
Leadership as a result
This model of leadership examines leadership in terms of how far the ‘collective results of an organization [can be attributed] to the actions of an individual leader’.
This form of leadership because it means that the leader is praised when an organization is doing well, but criticized when the organization is not doing well.
For example, school leaders are held responsible for the results of the students.
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
Leadership as position
This form of leadership is based on the position of the leader within a hierarchical power structure.
It is premised upon the idea that in order to lead effectively it depends upon how far up the hierarchy you are positioned.
For example, this understanding of leadership would place the CEO of a company as the leader and assume that leadership is down to the CEO and that they hold most of the leadership power purely by the very fact that they are situated at the top of the hierarchy
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
Leadership as purpose
Leadership as Purpose is a unique way of looking at leadership as it differentiates it from any other activity.
‘Thus it embodies the possibility that the results may be very little but the purpose more important.
For example, ethical leadership
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
Leadership as process
This is ‘Based on an assumption that people that we attribute the term leadership to, act differently from non-leaders,
i.e. that some people ‘act like leaders’ (Grint et al., 2017, p. 9).
The leadership as Process model was developed by Pierce and Dunham (1989) and is premised upon the idea that there are four key factors that contribute to leadership, its success or failure:
The model looks to clarify
understanding around how actions as a leader may influence followers or staff and how this is dependent on both context and outcome.
It also considers how staff or followers influence the leader.
Finally it outlines how context and outcomes may influence both leader and followers/staff.
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
Leadership as process
Reading 22: Identifying leadership
Box 2 example
Jake joined a firm specialising in cutting edge IT solutions because he was passionate in his belief that high tech equipment can change lives.
However, two weeks into the job he realised that the CEO was in fact a bit of a Luddite where technology is concerned, even to the extent that he still kept a paper diary.
As the rationale for the strategy was being driven by someone who seemed to have little IT knowledge, Jake lost heart in the organisation and became demotivated at work; 6 months later he resigned.
Session 13: Leadership and management
