Term Paper on "Nature of Leadership"

Term Paper 14 pages (4036 words) Sources: 14 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Nature of Leadership

What are the arguments for and against making a distinction between leaders and managers? What is your definition of leadership?

Defining leadership is a challenging enterprise and there remains a lack of a universally agreed upon definition in the organizational behavior literature (Yukl, 2005). Organizational leaders and managers frequently share some common types of general responsibilities that make an absolute distinction between the two difficult in some settings, but there are some fundamental differences involved as well that can be used to differentiate their overall roles. Certainly, in some cases, leaders will perform these types of managerial tasks and in others, managers will perform some of the tasks of the leader and in yet other settings, the leader and manager may be the same individual, particularly in small enterprises. This point is made by Yukl who notes that, "There is a continuing controversy about the difference between leadership and management. It is obvious that a person can be a leader without being a manager and a person can be a manager without leading. . . . Nobody has proposed that managing and leading are equivalent, but the degree of overlap is a point of sharp disagreement" (2005, p. 5). The degree of overlap between leaders and managers is also made evident by Yukl's (2005) observations that:

A. "Most definitions of leadership reflect the assumption that it involves a process whereby intentional influence is exerted by one person over other people to guide, structure and facilitate activities and relationships in a group or organization" (p. 3).

B. "Management and leadership both involve deciding what needs to be done, creating networks of relationships to do it, and trying to ensure that it happens" (p. 6).

It is reasonable to suggest that many leaders and managers perform these types of activities on a regular basis, but beyond these common definitions, Yukl (2005) emphasizes that there is little other common ground in the scholarly literature concerning the definition of leaders vs. The definition of managers. Indeed, it is reasonable to suggest that managers perform these types of activities as well from time to time, or even all of the time making the distinction between the two even more problematic. As Yukl points out, "Like all constructs in social science, the definition of leadership is arbitrary and subjective. Some definitions are more useful than others, but there is no single 'correct' definition that captures the essence of leadership" (2005, p. 8).

Despite these constraints in the operationalization of the terms, Yukl (2005) notes that some authorities have suggested that leadership can be distinguished from management by virtue of its indispensability. In this regard, Yukl reports that, "One view is that all groups have role specialization that includes a leadership role with some responsibilities and functions that cannot be shared to widely without jeopardizing the effectiveness of the group" (2005, pp. 3-4). By contrast, other authorities maintain that a superior approach to defining leadership focuses on the type of influence that is exerted over the organization. For example, Yukl notes that, "Writers with this perspective believe it is more useful to study 'leadership' as a social process rather than as a specialized role. According to this view, any member of the social system may exhibit leadership at any time, and there is no clear distinction between leaders and followers" (2005, p. 4). This observation, though, only serves to further muddy the definitional waters concerning the specific differences between leaders and managers.

Fortunately, Yukl (2005) notes that some authorities have offered frameworks that establish some core processes and intended outcomes that help to differentiate between leaders and managers, with managers seeking to produce order and predictability by:

A. Setting operational goals, establishing action plans with timetables and allocating resources;

B. Organizing and staffing (establishing structure, assigning people to jobs); and,

C. Monitoring results and solving problems (p. 6).

By contrast, leaders seek to effect organizational change by:

A. Developing a vision of the future and strategies for making necessary changes;

B. Communicating and explaining the vision; and,

C. Motivating and inspiring people to attain the vision (Yukl, 2005, p. 6).

These distinctions help identify some of the different functions performed by leaders and managers, but Yukl also notes that, "Leadership has been defined in many different ways, but most definitions share the assumption that it involves an influence process concerned with facilitating the performance of a collective task. . . . No single 'correct' definition of leadership covers all situations. What matters is how useful the definition is for increasing our understanding of effective leadership" (2005, p. 20). Therefore, a useful, general working distinction between leaders and managers is that leaders establish the overarching vision, goals and direction for their organizations while managers perform the day-to-day oversight that helps to achieve these outcomes.

2.

How are managerial activities and behavior affected by level of management? Size of the manager's unit?

Managerial activities and the type of behaviors that are needed to achieve organizational goals will naturally relate to the level of management that is involved. For instance, higher echelons of management will typically require managers to employ behaviors that are more appropriate for groups rather than individual direction, but this does not mean that top-level managers do not interact or manage their subordinate on an individual basis, only that the preponderance of their time will likely be spent on activities that are directed at larger numbers of subordinates.

Therefore, the number of subordinates that comprise an individual manager's unit responsibilities will affect the type of behaviors and activities that are used. In some cases, managers may not have any subordinates at all (Yukl, 2005) while still retaining the "manager" title. In other case, managers may have responsibility for overseeing dozens or even hundreds of subordinates. Clearly, the type of behavior and managerial activities that are used in these two extremes will be dramatically different and will depend on the specific requirements of the organization. Because all organizations and the individuals that comprise them are unique in some fashion, the type of managerial activities and behaviors that are effective in one setting may be less effective or even backfire in others, making the need to fine-tune the type of managerial approach that is used all the more important.

3.

Compare and contrast leadership effectiveness studies from Michigan & Ohio State University.

A.

University of Michigan: Seminal studies concerning leadership behavior were conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan during the mid-20th century with a specific focus on identifying the relationships among leader behavior, group processes and measures of group performance. The initial research conducted at Michigan University consisted of a series of field studies involving a wide range of leaders (who are alternatively referred to as "managers" by Yukl), including: (a) section managers in an insurance company, (b) supervisors in a large manufacturing company, and (c) supervisors of railroad section gangs. According to Yukl, "Information about managerial behavior was collected with interviews and questionnaires. Objective measures of group productivity were used to classify managers as relatively effective or ineffective. A comparison of effective and ineffective managers showed some significant differences in managerial behavior" (p. 54). The results of this research resulted in the classification of three different types of leadership behaviors set forth in Table 1 below.

Table 1

Main Findings of the University of Michigan Studies

Category

Description

Task-oriented behavior

Effective managers do not spend their time and effort doing the same kind of work as their subordinates. Rather, the more effective managers concentrated on task-oriented functions such as planning and scheduling the work, coordinating subordinate activities, and providing necessary supplies, equipment and technical assistance. Moreover, effective managers guided subordinates in setting performance goals that were high but realistic. The task-oriented behaviors identified in the Michigan studies appear similar to the behaviors labeled "initiating structure" in the Ohio State leadership studies (discussed further below).

Relations oriented behavior

The effective managers were also more supportive and helpful with subordinates. Supportive behaviors that were correlated with effective leadership included showing trust and confidence, acting friend and considerate, trying to understand subordinate problems, helping to develop subordinates and further their careers, keeping subordinates informed, showing appreciation for subordinates' ideas, allowed considerable autonomy in how subordinates do the work, and providing recognition for subordinates' contributions and accomplishments. These behaviors are similar to the behaviors labeled "consideration" in the Ohio State leadership studies (discussed further below).

Participative leadership

Effective managers use more group supervision instead of supervising each subordinate separately. Group meetings facilitate subordinate participation in decision making, improve communication, promote cooperation, and facilitate conflict resolution. The role of the manager in group meetings should be primarily to guide the discussion and keep it supportive, constructive and oriented toward problem solving; however, the use of participation does not imply abdication of responsibilities and the manager remains responsible for all decisions and their results

Source: Yukl, 2005, p. 54

B.

Ohio State: A concomitant series of leadership behavior studies were conducted during the mid-20th century by researchers at Ohio… READ MORE

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