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?
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.
Activity 7.7
Different managers have different styles of leadership. These are the three most common ones:
Autocratic Leadership
Democratic Leadership
Laissez-Faire Leadership
Let's understand each of them in more details as we go further...
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.
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.
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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