Leadership & Change

“Which personal style should managers adopt to ensure success? What is the most effective approach to managing the work of subordinates? These questions have been extensively researched and debated over the last century, and while the general consensus has moved away from ‘command and control’ to management and leadership towards more consultative and participative approaches”(CMI 2013)

 

When refer to the above questions that be submitted in the argument, I found myself have no idea of each question. First of all, in my opinion, personal style is all about personalities, it could be formed by several elements. However, even psychologists cannot give a precise definition about it. How can we name one personal style to ensure any kind of success.

maybe there is no way to find the same leaves in the forest but based on the social identity theory people do share similar personalities, like you cannot find the same leaves but will be easily find something similar around. Therefore, the attitudes toward change shall differ from person to person. I like challenges while changes make me a better performance than others, which strengthen my reflexs. it’s quite reasonable that others hate the change because they have to readjust their actions to build a new reflexs to make the life easier. However, the change shall be different while the personalities are diverse. Some change may from top to bottom while the others may from bottom to top. We can’t easily judge which pattern will be strongly resisted. For instance, the change of fashion from bottom to top may bring similar resistance as top to bottom, consumers happily accept the Kate Spade and Michael Kors from nobody know to fashion brand while hollister (A&F) turning from popular teenager brand to have to cut off brand logo. Therefore, the fact of change is simple but complex as well, it heavily depends on the person themselves those personalities they have.

Indeed, the personalty is solid and hardly to influence. Based on these views, Mullins concerned little manipulation can do to solve the resistances. Actually, as I mentioned the person may unique but the identities are shared which there may find the regulations among the diverse personalities and finally track the solutions. Hashim(2013) defined change management as “when the organization decide to alter the present mode of business activities into a new one style or model to cope with rapid changes of the business world, but keep in mind the profit maximization factor” he studied this area to facilitate the management for organization, all the processes referred to change and the strategies to reduce the resistance. In his change management article, two approaches were presented. One called force field analysis approach which there is one primary force to disturb the change and managers must identify this force to reduce the resistance. Another approach called implementation tactics, they like a set of strategies to reduce the resistance, which at least one of them will work. These tactics include top management support, participation, negotiation, communication and education and coercion. I think this theory may become a good explanation to distinguish between a leader and a manager. For example, some people may have a job title as ‘manager’ in a group of people. They have to take responsibilities literally, they have to make a plan and organize how to make their plan work well. However, if the person do not have the so called ‘leadership’, he or she may be replaced by someone else who always be at the forefront, very pro active and even pro offering solutions in the group. In other words, the ‘real leader’ outstands beyond its title, the person who may inspire and motivate others.

Beneath is the “Watsons 7s framework” and a table that clearly differentiates the duties and attributes of leaders and managers.

To sum up, managers maintain and administer while leaders innovate, and develop. In a word, I believe that management is a kind of leadership, but focus on more details. On the other side, leaders have to not only manage the work and subordinates, while it requires more general management ability to balance and control the overview. Furthermore, leadership cannot be a part of management because managers do not necessarily have to lead, motivate or inspire subordinates.

Reference:

Popovici V. (2012)  Similarities and differences between Management and Leadership. University of Târgu Jiu. 2

Mullins, L. and Christy, G. (2013) Management Et Organisational Behaviour. Harlow: Pearson

Ratcliffe, R. (2013) What’s The Difference Between Leadership And Management? [online] available from <http://www.theguardian.com/careers/difference-between-leadership-management&gt; [2 June 2015]

Watson, C.M. (1983) Leadership, Management and the Seven Keys- business Horizons. 8-13

BusinessDictionary.com, (2015) What Is Authoritarian Leadership? Definition And Meaning [online] available from <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/authoritarian-leadership.html&gt; [25 June 2015]

Theories of leadership (2015) Ten Leadership Theories In Five Minutes[online] available from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKUPDUDOBVo&gt; [2 June 2015]