Leadership and Management
Essay Preview: Leadership and Management
Report this essay
The Functions of management
Henri Fayol – first person to come up with a list of functions or elements of management
Planning – setting objectives and also strategies, policies, programmes and procedures for achieving them.
Organising – managers set tasks which need to be preformed if the business wants to achieve its objectives.
Commanding – this involves giving instructions to subordinates to carry out tasks. The manager has the authority to make decisions.
Co-ordinating – this is the bringing together of the activities of people within the business.
Controlling – managers measure and correct the activities of individuals and groups, to make sure that their performance fits in with plans.
The management process
Peter Drucker – grouped the operations of management into five categories
Setting objectives for the organisation
Job measurement – assessing whether the business has met its objectives
Organising the work
Motivating employees
Developing people – the management should bring out the best in people
Four styles of management
Autocratic – orders come form the top, and no leeway is allowed
Democratic – less centralised, give space for initiative
Laissez faire – arises from over worked or lazy management, staff is left to their own devices
Paternalistic – decision making is still centralised but a noticeable attention and care for staff
McGregors Theory X & Y
Douglas McGregor undertook a survey of managers in the USA and identified two styles of management, which he called Theory X and Theory Y.
Theory X managers tend to distrust their subordinates; they believe employees do not enjoy their work and that need to be controlled. Theory X is about the views managers have on their workforce.
Theory Y managers believe that employees do enjoy their work and they want to contribute ideas and effort. Theory Y manager is more likely to involve employees in decisions
Why do leader adopt different styles?
Fiedler – argued that it is easier to change someones role or power,