BTEC Business Studies

Leadership Skills

There are several skills required by a leader.

Diagnosing. This is an intellectual skill required by leaders. They need the ability to understand the current situation and how that situation may change in the future.

The problem the manager faces can be called a Performance Gap, that is the gap between the situation now facing the group and what changes will be needed in order for it to meet its targets and fulfil expectations. The leader will need to help or direct the group to close the Performance Gap.

Adapting. Team Leaders need to change their behaviour, and perhaps that of their team, in order to close the performance gap.

Communicating. This is a process skill: it is no good diagnosing a problem an adapting resources to solve it if the solution is not communicated effectively to the rest of the team.

What is it about these quotes that inform us about quality Leadership?

It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

President Harry S TrumanBehind an able person there are always other able people

Chinese ProverbI praise loudly, I blame softly.

Catherine the Great.

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Another way of summarising what Leadership is about is the diagram below.

Think of 3 people that are good leaders and three people that are poor leaders. And say in a few words reasons for your decision.

Good Leaders Poor Leaders

Research has indicated that leaders and managers adopt different styles when they work with their employees. Different styles are more suitable in some situations than others. For example a style which involves asking everyone for their opinions would not be helpful in a situation where decisions have to be made quickly.

However it would be an appropriate style where getting lots of opinions and experiences will help to make a better quality decision. Robert Blake and Jane Mouton, as a means of examining

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Management Styles, developed a “Leadership Grid”. They considered concern for production (ie getting the job done) against concern for people (ie concern for team processes.)

The results are plotted on a grid as below

1/1 Is an impoverished management style with very little concern for the task or for the employees.

1/9 is a task management style where there is no regard for people, this is what you might find where people are working on piece rates or commission only; if the people fail to achieve targets they will soon find disciplinary action being taken against them.

5/5 is a middle of the road management style, this is a balanced view.

9/9 is the ideal “team manager” where both the task and the people are considered as very

important.

Formal and Informal Groups

A formal group has been set up for a specific purpose and is officially recognised by the organisation and within the organisation’s structure. The formal group will be successful where there is a balance of skills and experience as well as a clear focus on the team’s goals.

Informal groups gather together because of some common interest. These groups are not recognised by the organisation but may support or even undermine the efforts of the company. An example of an informal group is the people who meet together in the smoker’s shelter at break-time. Alternatively it might be to solve a problem that is irritating them or holding them back and the people in a particular department come together informally.

Team Building.

Many organisations become so convinced in the value of teams that make a lot of effort (and spend a lot of money) on Team Building exercises.

This may involve taking a group of people away from their normal environment and involving them in exercises where they need to work together as a team to solve problems and achieve goals.

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Team building can be developed as a process of Continuous Improvement within the department or the wider organisation; there are usually formal team meetings to facilitate this.

Another approach is to take part in some kind of outward bound experience where activities such as abseiling and obstacle courses will develop team spirit. The group are forced to develop team spirit; a disadvantage with this however is that team members with disabilities might feel discriminated against if they don’t take part or might feel themselves to be a burden to the team if they do take part.

Conflict within groups and teams.

It has been estimated that managers can spend up to 20% of their time sorting out conflicts either between workers or between the needs of the worker and the needs of the organisation. Arguments, and the associated ill feeling, needs to be rapidly resolved if the situation is not to escalate.

Ways of solving conflict with in teams (and in general) include appealing to shared goals, hierarchical referral or organisational redesign.

How would each of these methods of solving conflict work?

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Leadership and Managing People.

What makes a good leader or manager? For many it is someone who can inspire and get the most from their staff.

There are many qualities that are needed to be a good leader or manager.

• Be able to think creatively to provide a vision for the company and solve problems• Be calm under pressure and make clear decisions • Possess excellent two-way communication skills• Have the desire to achieve great things• Be well informed and knowledgeable about matters relating to the business• Possess an air of authority

Do you have to be born with the correct qualities or can you be taught to be a good leader? It is most likely that well-known leaders or managers (Winston Churchill, Richard Branson or Alex Ferguson?) are successful due to a combination of personal characteristics and good training.

Managers deal with their employees in different ways. Some are strict with their staff and like to be in complete control, whilst others are more relaxed and allow workers the freedom to run their own working lives (just like the different approaches you may see in teachers!). Whatever approach is predominately used it will be vital to the success of the business. “An organisation is only as good as the person running it”.

There are several types of Leadership that are common in organisations.

An Autocratic Management style.

The Autocratic leader makes and implements all the decisions; there is no room for discussion with subordinates.

This can demotivate employees who feel that there is no scope for individual initiative. They may feel that their higher order needs are not being met, this relates to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The autocratic manager may be perceived as a bully with a theory X mentality.

Some employees may like having an autocratic manager because they see work as simply a means to earning money and might, therefore, be quite happy to be doing a routine task and having very clear lines of direction and not want the responsibility that comes with making decisions.

For many people, however, an autocratic leader leaves them frustrated as there is no opportunity to discuss decisions, goal, procedures or routines – what the ‘autocratic leader decides is what the sub-ordinates must do.

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Communication is “top down” with little or no feedback from the bottom up. Tasks are set out and explained by the leader, or set out in manuals, rules and instructions determined by the leader. Decision making does tend to be very swift, but the disadvantage is that the autocratic leader may make a reactive, knee-jerk response which is, with the benefit of hindsight, not the best decision to have taken.

How would you feel about working for an Autocratic Manager?

A Consultative Management Style.

This kind of management style gives the workers plenty of opportunity to discuss the routines, decisions etc of the organisation. Most employees like to be consulted and it makes them feel more important to know that managers are listening to them. This approach fits in with Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s ideas of empowerment.

Some employees, however, perceive this type of management style as weak, they see the consultation process as “dithering” and the manager lacking the willpower or ability to make independent and prompt decisions.

How would you feel about working for a Consultative Manager?

Democratic Leadership.

The creation of objectives, policies and decisions are created by and jointly agreed by teams.

The leader supports decision making.

There is a multi-channel flow of communication.

Objectives are agreed upon during discussion.

The leader and team jointly praise successful behaviours which meet team requirements.

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This could demotivate workers who see the decision making process as being a waste of time, these employees may be well be happier with a Theory X type of manager.

In practice however most employees enjoy some type of responsibility and respond favourably to being given responsibility for decision making. Many workers who want to build careers and to develop themselves will respond favourably to this Theory Y type of approach as it allows them to satisfy the Higher Order needs that Maslow identified.

In what sort of organisations or situations would a Democratic management style work well?

The Laissez-Faire Management Style.

With this kind of management style there is a lot of trust from the manager that the workers are capable of self direction and self motivation; this is sometimes considered to be a “soft touch” type of management as the manager just doesn’t get involved much of the time.

When teams have had plenty of training and consist of groups of people with the required team work,

professionalism and work skills then this approach can work very well as it is highly motivating and enables very high level of self- actualisation, and if this is a well structured Theory Y approach it can be very enriching.

For other workers, however, this approach can be very demotivating as there are no clear objectives and targets to work towards and where autonomous teams have not been trained to work independently.

Failure to achieve direction and targets can be just as bad as Autocratic management in some situations.

In what sort of situations would Laissez-Fair management work well?

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Paternalistic Leadership Style.

Paternalistic managers give more attention to the social needs and views of their workers. Managers are interested in how happy workers feel and in many ways they act as a father figure (pater means father in Latin). They consult employees over issues and listen to their feedback or opinions. The manager will however make the actual decisions (in the best interests of the workers) as they believe the staff still need direction and in this way it is still somewhat of an autocratic approach. The style is closely linked with Mayo’s Human Relation view of motivation and also the social needs of Maslow.

The Cadbury Family has traditionally adopted this approach to their workers and created the village of Bourneville in Birmingham specifically for their workers. Explain how they improved the well- being of their workers (you may need to research this from the internet).

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The Chartered Management Institute recently set out 6 main types of managers that they found commonly exists in the work place. It also set out strategies that employees could use to cope with these different management styles, draw lines to match the style with the strategy.

Quotes from the manager Strategy for coping with this style of manager.Dictatorial “I am in charge because I am the best person for the job. I go around telling everyone what to do and how to do it; I am motivated by the need to win every argument. I get my way through rewards and punishment.

Don’t be afraid to give them your opinions and involve them by socialising with them.

Bureaucratic “I have got to the position I am in by following the rules. This is the best way of managing. I take my responsibilities seriously and don’t take risks.

Ask for formal meetings to discuss any issues and to get permission for projects where possible.

Charismatic “I motivate staff by inspiring them to achieve the organisation’s goals rather than their own. I lead by personal example and inspire loyalty. I am driven by the need to act for the company’s greater good.”

Show them that you decisions and submit any requests in writing have complied with the rules when carrying out any

Consultative “I am very concerned about establishing and keeping close personal and emotional relationships with others, I consult people frequently. I prefer to share the burden of decision making with others because I am a bit scared by responsibility.”

Ask their permission before doing anything and show that you are carrying out orders with enthusiasm.

Laissez-Faire “I deliberately leave staff to get on with things, having seen that they work well on their own. I assume that people are working because they want to and are self-motivated”.

Be enthusiastic about their dreams and show that you too put the company first.

Abdictatorial (not taking responsibility) “I don’t care enough to get involved with employees. I leave them to it because I don’t like to face responsibility myself. My employees must make decisions and confront and handle problems themselves.”

Show that you can be trusted to get on with it and send regular progress memos. Don’t bother them with trivial matters.

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