Chapter 7 - Organization and Management
Learning Objectives: To understand the role of managers and the different leadership styles
To start off, think about it:
What do you think the managers in a company do?
There are five different functions of management:
Planning: analyzing the current situation, the objectives, and plan how to achieve them;
Organizing: businesses need resources to meet their objectives (land, labor, capital) and managers are responsible for coordinating such resources;
Commanding: managers are also in charge of controlling, supervising, and motivating workers;
Coordinating: making sure that all parts of the business are working together towards achieving the same objectives;
Controlling: mangers have responsibility over the plans of achieving objectives: are they working? Is it on time?
We have discussed before that delegation is one type of financial motivator. But what delegation really is?
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It consists of giving the authority to workers to make decisions and completing tasks on their own;
Managers delegate because they may not have enough time or the right skills;
Some managers are reluctant to do it as they are afraid of losing control, fear of a subordinate doing it better, or, “if you want it done right, do it yourself” thinking.
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Activity 7.7
Different managers have different styles of leadership. These are the three most common ones:
Autocratic Leadership
Democratic Leadership
Laissez-Faire Leadership
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Let's understand each of them in more details as we go further...
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Centralized decision-making (leader);
Decisions are communicated to workers;
Leader checks performance;
Focus on what to do rather on who will do;
It can generate low motivation
It is good for fast decision-making situations (e.g. hospitals);
Useful in situations which safety is on the line.
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The opposite of autocratic
Discussion is the basis for decision-making; It can improve the quality of the final decision (more inputs/opinions);
Two-way communication;
Increases workers’ motivation;
Useful when employees are skilled / experienced and interested in being involved.
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Very little supervision or input from the leader;
“Let them do it” approach;
Useful for creative tasks (e.g. product development, creating a new ad);
Used for when workers have higher expertise than managers and better perform tasks on their own (e.g. research).
Research Task:
Interview managers around the school to find out their leadership styles:
Explain that there are three types of leadership style;
Formulate 3 questions that will help you identify the leadership style of the manager;
Present your findings to the class.
Which leadership style is the best one?
Choosing a leadership style depends on various factors, for example:
The level of skills and experience of the workforce:
- Skillful and experienced workforce needs less monitoring from managers and therefore a democratic or laissez-faire approach may be a better fit;
The time available for decision-making:
- Democratic leadership involves discussion and therefore requires longer time wheresa autocratic leadership works best for decisions that need to be made quickly;
The personality of the manager in charge:
- Every manager has their own personality and will match their leadership style to it;
The task to be completed:
- Creative tasks may be better performed under a laissez-faire leadership whereas repetitive tasks under autocratic leadership.
Sometimes managers mix the different leadership styles depending on the situation they are in - and that's OK!
Case Study (p. 102)
To-Do-List:
Activity 7.8 (p. 101);
Use Table 7.4
Chapter 7 - Organization and Management
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