Define leadership and explain the difference between being a manager and being a leader. Which boss would you rather have? Why? (02 Marks) The leadership style theories, which you have learned in the chapter 13 & 14 based on that determine which leadership styles are suitable for managers who are managing workers ( both Blue collar &White collar) in the organizations.(03 Marks) Describe directive leadership and supportive leadership, Explain their importance. (02 Marks) How organizations are benefitted from supportive leadership?Give an example of such organization which you might have come across. (03 Marks)

QUESTION

ANSWER

Leadership and Management

Question one

Leadership is defined as the ability to influence others to channel their efforts towards a common goal. Leadership provides direction and essential tools that can help a group of people to achieve a common goal. There are several differences between the manager and the leader. A leader is visionary always and focuses on the long term objectives that the group of individuals. A manager, on the other hand, is usually focused on the short termobjectives. A manager banks on teamwork within hisgroup (Smirch, 2012). Bycoordinating all the activities in the group. A leader leads by example. He offers guidance and support where necessary. Innovation in managers is substantially low; they usually work on already established premises and procedures. Aleader, the hand tries to b innovative as much as possible. He tries to come up with new ideas to help his subjects every time. In my opinion, I prefer a leader over a manager. A leader tries to connect the employees to something greater than what they currently see while a manager only focuses on the short term objectives.

Question two

The leadership theories and styles are as follows.

The great man theory postulates that a leader is not made, but rather he is born. According to great man, theconfidence, the intelligence, and the intuition of a leader usually come at birth. From my observation, thetheory makessense. I have met a lot of people with great leadership abilities without so much experience in life. The trait theory states that notall traitsmake up a good leader. For example, if one is a good public speaker, it does not necessarily mean that the same willtranslate toleadership. Thebehavioral theory postulates that leadership iscontextual. Aleader certainly behaves depending on the environment that he or she is in.The transactional leadership advances an understanding that leaders are often focused on goals and results rather thancreativity. What they want to see is their teams winning. In this case, a leader can punish or reward his subjects, depending on the outcomes (Offerman, 2012). The transactional leadership theory usually focuses on the relationship between the leader and his or her subjects. The leadership in this theory are more focused on achieving goals and nothing else. They, therefore, dedicate themselves to motivate and inspire their subjects.

In my own opinion, I believe the transactional leadership works better for a blue-collar Job,whereas the transformational leadership works better for white-collarjobs. Transactional leadership is the best for blue jobs because the leaders want to achieve goals. If someone does not work towards achieving those goals, then he or she is directly punished. The transformational leadership style is ideal for a white-collar job because of severalreasons. In any organization, higher input and results are usuallydesired. When transformational leadership is effected, the employees will be motivated and inspired to channel their efforts towards helping the organization to achieve its goals.

Question three

Description of direct and supportive leadership styles

Directive leadership is one of the common leadership styles that is arising in the current world. Directive leaders majorly use their experiences and opinions to give direction. They did initiate a project, delegateresponsibilities, and set particular standards to be achieved. Theygive clear-cut information in regards to what is supposed to be done within the organization setting the standards and objectives; direct leadership offers a sense of direction within the organization. Every employee will know what is required of him.

Unlike direct leadership, supportiveleadership requires the manager to support the employees until the delegated tasks are completed. Supportive leadership is quite demanding because the leaderhas to be present until the task is accomplishedor until when the employee can work with minimum supervision. Supportive leadership helps the organization in severalways. One of them is the fact that directions usually don’t go through every time. When the employee is guided and supported, it can be easier to achieve those goals.

Question four

How organizations have benefited from supportive leadership

There are several ways through which organizations have benefited from supportive leadership. First of all, supportive leadership gives the employees the necessary support. Quite often, most of the employees fail to execute their tasks because, in one way or the other, they don’t get a perfect understanding of what they are supposed to do. When supportive leadership is given, Employees will digest what is required of them perfectly and can thereby work with minimum standards without compromising on the quality. These types of employees are likely to stay committed and give their all to the company. It is good to note that most of the employee to employer conflicts emanate from lack of adherence to the instructions. When the probability of these conflicts happening is eliminated, the chances of achieving the organization’s success becomes imminent.

References

APA PsycNet. (n.d.). https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-34174-010

Offermann, L. R., Kennedy Jr, J. K., & Wirtz, P. W. (2014). Implicit leadership theories: Content, structure, and generalizability. The leadership quarterly, 5(1), 43-58. https://www.academia.edu/30743048/Implicit_leadership_theories_Content_structure_and_generalizability

Smircich, L., & Morgan, G. (2012). Leadership: The management of meaning. The Journal of applied behavioral science, 18(3), 257-273. https://www.scirp.org/(S(351jmbntvnsjt1aadkposzje))/reference/ReferencesPapers.aspx?ReferenceID=1871465