Management and Leadership Analysis
Introduction.
This report is about critically evaluating leadership and management theories and their application in a range of leadership and management settings. We also critically evaluate the application of leadership theories to a leader in an organizational context and management theories to a contemporary organisation. This is needed as it will help us determine how management theories has contributed to helping organisations increase productivity and motivation.
To be able to do this, we shall be reviewing management writings and some relevant literatures in line with the topic. We shall also interview some stakeholders who work within Ciel Consulting, which is our organisation in focus. We shall also be reviewing articles, recorded data and observation.
Over the years, there has been attempts to optimize organizational performance, increase productivity and enhance motivation. This has led to series of management theories. The various proponents have been put into various categories. Some of the broad categories are classical and contemporary management theories.
Let us define some of the key words which we are going to be using in this report. First, let us discuss what we mean by theory. Merriam Webster Dictionary Online Defines theory as “ A hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation’. The word originates from the Greek word ‘theoria’ which means “looking at, viewing, beholding’. Harper, Douglas (2008). Leadership on other hand has been defined as a process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Chemers, M. (1997). While Culture has been defined as “an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups” Tylor, Edward. (1871). Definition of culture stems from the fact that belief system evolves and are as diverse as entities. Ackoff (1974) opined that practices that are welcomed in one place maybe an abomination in another place.. Furthermore, theoretical frames are influenced by the organizational culture that shows rights and wrongs, good and bad, and the kind of idea to be discussing with or sharing with the workers in the organization (Watson, 1994; Dawson, 1996).
The definition for management is quite diverse. Different authors have defined management in different ways. We shall take a look at some of these definitions. “To manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to co-ordinate, and to control.” Henry Fayol (1916). Fayol described management as a process of five functions such as planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Modern authors, however, do not view co-ordination as a separate function of management.
Ciel Consulting is a leading training and consultancy company in Nigeria. The organisation from my observation, applies some of these management theories in its operations. The organisation is largely a functional organizational structure. There is a hierarchy and people are grouped according to their areas of specialization. There is also a clearly defined roles and responsibility, which clearly show division of labor among team members. This activity of the organization means that there is a management theory been practiced in the organization.
Main Body.
Definition of management
Different perspective shape how people define and interpret theories or ideas. Scholars from a number of fields and places have attempted to give a definition to management in varying ways. There are few definitions of management by several theorists. We shall take a look at some of these definitions.
Peter Drucker tries to define management as some key actions that people in management will be doing to keep the business going forward and that includes the external connections of the organization.
Koontz and Weihrich (1975, p.2). Here Kroontz and Weihrich are defining Management in terms of the environment, they are suggesting mostly of the supervisors making the work environment conducive to the workers to perform efficiently in the workplace.
'To manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and to
control. Fayol (1916). Fayol's definition of management represents how managers make people to get the job done at that time. People are made to operate largely by command.
‘Managing is an operational process initially best dissected by analyzing the managerial functions. The five essential managerial functions (are): planning, organizing, staffing, directing and leading and controlling.’ Koontz and O’Donnell (1984). Kroontz and O'Donnel stated that management has five managerial functions including staffing,
directing, controlling and leading that are directly speaking about the connection of management to employees and how they get the job finished.
‘Management is a social process ... the process consists of ... planning, control, coordination and motivation.’ Brech (1957) We can see that the definitions of management changed overtime, first definitions of management from Fayol sees management as controlling but in the definition from Brech, it's to do with motivation. In Koontz and O'Donnell's definition, they mentioned leading and directing within the activities of management and this is pointing out that the change in the paradigm of management by commanding to motivation and directing the team to effectively get the work done.
Classical concept of Management
The classical method on management emerged through the nineteenth and early twentieth century and also to some extent is practiced and accepted by many supervisors even now. The classical school actually includes two different areas: lower-level management evaluation (scientific management ); and comprehensive analysis of management (administrative theory).
Scientific Theory
Productivity became the Critical business difficulty during the first couple of years of 19th century. Companies were expanding rapidly and capital was easily available, but labour was in short supply. Therefore, managers began to search for ways to utilize existing labor better. As per the businesses desire, experts start to seek out ways to enhance the performance of individual workers. Their work resulted in the development of scientific management concept. A number of the earliest advocates of scientific
management comprised Frederick W. Taylor (1856--1915), Frank Gilbreth (1868--1924), Lillian Gilbreth (1878--1972), Henry Gantt (1861--1919), and Harrington Emerson (1853--1931). Taylor played the dominant role. The method of scientific management, which he believed would result in a more efficient and productive workforce. It was first successfully implemented into Bethlehem Steel and practices some sections of it today.
Taylor's four fundamentals are as follows:
1. Replace Working by “rule of thumb," or easy habit and common sense, and rather use the scientific approach to examine work and ascertain the most effective method to perform specific tasks.
2. Rather than just assign employees to any occupation, match employees to their tasks based on capability and motivation, and then train them to operate at optimum efficiency.
3. Monitor Worker performance, and provide instructions and oversight to guarantee they're using the very efficient methods of working.
4. Allocate the job between supervisors and workers so the managers spend their time
training and planning, allowing the workers to perform their jobs efficiently.
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth: These were a husband-and-wife. They had been industrial engineers. Frank Gilbreth's most intriguing contribution was on the craft of bricklaying. After analyzing bricklayers at work, he developed several processes for doing the job
better. By way of example, he gave standard substances and techniques, including the positioning of the bricklayer, the bricks, along with the mortar at different levels. The results of the changes were a reduction from 18 different bodily movements to five and an increase in output of approximately 200 percent. Lillian Gilbreth made equally important contributions to several distinct areas of work, helped shape the discipline of industrial psychology, and made substantive contributions to the field of personnel management. Working independently and together, the Gilbreths developed numerous strategies and approaches for removing inefficiency. They applied many of their ideas to their family and documented their adventures raising 12 kids in the book and original 1950 movie Cheaper by the Dozen.
Henry Gantt: Henry Gantt, the inventor of "Gantt chart," is another contributor to scientific management. He had been an associate of Taylor. He developed few techniques for enhancing worker output. One of these is “Gantt chart," is still used now. A Gantt chart is fundamentally a means of scheduling work and can be created for each worker or for a complex project as a whole. Gantt also enhanced Taylor's thoughts about piecework pay systems.
Harrington Emerson: Harrington Emerson was another management consultant. He reached the light in 1910 when he appeared before the Interstate Commerce Commission to testify about a rate increase requested by the railroads. As an expert witness, Emerson asserted that the railroads could save $1 million a day by utilizing scientific management. He was also a strong advocate of technical management roles in organizations, believing that job specialty was as relevant to managerial work as it had been to operating jobs.
Administrative theory
Scientific management deals with the jobs of individual workers, administrative management focuses on managing the entire organization. Some of the contributors to administrative management include Henri Fayol (1841–1925), Lyndall Urwick (1891–1983), Max Weber (1864–1920), and Chester Barnard (1886–1961). On the other hand, the most notable of contributors were Henry Fayol. Henri Fayol was the most articlate person in the field of Adminstrative management. Drawing on his own managerial experience, he tried to systematize the practice of management to provide guidance and management to other supervisors. Fayol also was the first to spot the specific managerial functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. He considered that these functions correctly reflect the crux of the management procedure. Most contemporary management books still use this framework, and practicing supervisors concur that these acts are a vital part of the jobs. Fayol identifies the next six major actions of almost any industrial or business organization:
1. Technical (production and manufacturing)
2. Commercial (buying, selling and exchanging)
3. Financial (search for an optimum utilization of capital)
4. Security (safeguarding property and individuals )
5. Accounting (including statistics)
6. Managerial.
Along with those six management actions, Fayol identified fourteen universal principles of management that are aimed at showing managers how to carry out their operational duties. He himself followed them. His 14 principles of management are as bellow:
I. Division of Work: He posits the need to divide work among groups and individuals to ensure that attention and effort are focused on particular portions of the task. Fayol presented work specialty as the best way to use the human resources of their organization.
II. Authority: The concepts of Authority and Responsibility are closely related. Responsibility involves being answerable, and is therefore inherently connected with authority. Whoever supposes authority also assumes obligation.
III. Discipline: Requires the common effort of employees. Penalties should be applied to promote this common effort.
IV. Unity of command: Employees should receive orders from only 1 supervisor
V. Unity of Direction: The whole Organization ought to be moving towards a common objective in a common direction.
VI. Subordination of individual interests to the general interests: The pursuits of a person should not take priority over the interests of this business as a whole.
VII. Remuneration: Many factors, such as Cost of living, supply of competent employees, overall business conditions, and success of the company, should be considered in determining an employee's rate of pay.
VIII. Fayol wrote about Centralization as lowering the importance of the subordinate role. Decentralization is raising the importance. The degree to that centralization or decentralization ought to be adopted is dependent upon the specific business in which the manager is working.
IX. Scalar Chain: Managers in hierarchies are part of a chain like jurisdiction scale. Each manager, from the very first line supervisor to the president, possess certain levels of authority. The President possesses the most authority; the first line manager the least. Lower level supervisors should constantly keep upper level supervisors informed of the work activities. The existence of a scalar chain and adherence to it's essential if the business is to succeed.
X. Order: For the purpose of efficiency and Coordination, all substances and people related to a specific kind of work ought to be treated as equally as possible.
XI. Equity: All employees should be treated as equally as possible.
XII. Stability of tenure of personnel: Maintaining productive workers should always be a top priority of management. Recruitment and Selection Costs, in Addition to increased product-reject prices are usually associated with hiring new workers.
XIII. Initiative: Management should take measures to promote worker initiative, which is described as additional or new work action undertaken through self-management.
XIV. Espirit de corps: Management should encourage stability and general good feelings among employees.
Lyndall Urwick: Lyndall Urwick, a noted Management theorist and consultant was a British army officer in the starting of the carrier. He incorporated scientific management with the work of Fayol and other administrative management theorists. In addition, he advanced modern thinking about the purposes of planning, organizing, and controlling. Much like Fayol, he developed a list of guidelines for enhancing managerial effectiveness.
Max Weber: Max Weber is known for his Bureaucracy Theory. He lived and worked at precisely the exact same time as Fayol and Taylor, but his gifts weren't recognized until some years had passed. Weber was a German sociologist. The concept of bureaucracy based on a rational set of tips for structuring associations in the most effective method. The main characteristics of waiver based on Weber were:
· A continuous organization or works bounded by rules
· That individuals served within the limits of this specialization of the job, the amount of authority allocated and the principles regulating the exercise of authority
· A hierarchical arrangement of offices
· Appointment to offices created on the grounds of technical proficiency only
· The separation of officials from ownersip of organization
· Authority was vested in the official positions and not in personlities that held these posts.
Chester Barnard: Chester Barnard, former President of New Jersey Bell Telephone company. He published a book The functions of the Executive. The publication proposes a major concept about the approval of authority. The concept implies that subordinates consider the validity of a supervisor's directives and then decide whether to take them. An order is accepted if the poor understands it, is able to comply with it, and views it as appropriate. The importance of Barnard's work is enhanced by his expertise as a leading manager.
Contribution of this Classical Management Theory
Classical management theory was introduced in 19th century. It became widespread in the first half of the 20th century. Though other management concepts have evolved since then, classical management strategies are still used today by many small-business owners to build their businesses and to succeed.
Hierarchical Structure: One of the advantages of the classical management arrangement is a clear organizational hierarchy using three different management degrees. Each management team has its own goals and duties.
Division of Labor: One of the advantages of classical management approach would be the division of labor. Jobs are broken down into smaller tasks that are easy to finish. The division of labor strategy leads to increased productivity and greater efficiency, as employees are not expected to multitask.
Monetary Incentive: Based on classical Management theory, employees should be motivated by financial rewards. Employees feel appreciated when being rewarded for hard work. A small-business owner can take this approach to motivate the employees to achieve production goals.
Autocratic Leadership: The autocratic leadership approach is the fundamental part of classical management theory. A single boss will take choice for your organization and he will direct all workers. All decisions are made in the top level and communicated down. The autocratic leadership strategy is valuable in cases when small-business decisions will need to be made quickly by a pioneer, without needing to check a large group of people, this type of board of directors.
Criticism of the Classical Management Theory
Reliance on experience: The classical theory of management was designed by thoughts on the basis of the experiences as managers or consultants with only particular types of organizations. It may not be applicable to generalize from these situations to others especially to young, high-technology firms of today.
Untested assumptions: Many of the assumptions produced by classical authors were based not on scientific tests but on value judgments that expressed exactly what they believed to be appropriate life-styles, moral codes, and attitudes toward achievement. These assumptions fail to recognize that employees may have wants and needs unrelated to the office or may view their jobs only as a necessary evil.
Human machines: Even though some writers (such as Lillian Gilbreth and Chester Barnard) were worried about the human component, many viewed employees as tools instead of resources.
Static states: Organizations are influenced by outside conditions which frequently change over time, yet classical management, concept presents a picture of an organization that's not formed by external influences.
Back Dated: Classical Theory is more appropriate for stable and easy associations compared to the dynamic and complex organizations. Classical Theory frequently told universal procedures which are not appropriate in certain configurations.
The behavioral Theory of management
(sometimes called the"human relations perspective") takes a much different strategy from classical perspective.
Hugo Munsterberg: Hugo Munsterberg (June 1, 1863 -- December 19, 1916) was a German-American psychologist. He had been among the pioneers of applied psychology, extending his research and concepts into industrial/organizational (I/O), medical, legal, clinical, educational, and business preferences. According to Munsterberg, Industrial psychology, focuses on topics like hiring workers with personalities and mental abilities best suited to specific types of vocations, as well as on ways to increase motivation, performance, and retention. Lots of Munsterberg's ideas, particularly the idea of matching someone's personality with the right job set and skills, are frequent in the use of industrial/organizational psychology today.
Elton Mayo & Hawthorne Studies: Elto Mayo's postulations came within the Hawthorne studies, a collection of experiments which rigorously applied classical management theory only to show its shortcomings. The first research was conducted by a team of engineers trying to determine the relationship of lighting levels to employee productivity. Surprisingly enough, they found that employee productivity increased as the light levels diminished -- that is, before the workers were not able to find out what they had been doing, and functionality obviously diminished. A Couple of years later, a second group of experiments began. They gave the women special privileges, like the right to leave their workstations without permission, take rest periods, enjoy free lunches, and also have variations in cover levels and workdays. This experiment also resulted in substantially increased rates of productivity.
In this case, Mayo and Roethlisberger Concluded that the increase in productivity generated from the arrangement rather than the changes in light or other associated worker benefits. Since the experimenters became the key managers of their employees, the intense interest they exhibited for the employees was the basis for the higher motivation and consequent productivity. Essentially, the experimenters became a part of the study and affected its outcome. This is the source of the term Hawthorne effect, which explains the distinctive attention researchers give to a study's subjects and also the effect that attention has on the research's findings.
Studies was that individual relations as well as the societal needs of employees are crucial facets of business management. This principle of individual motivation helped revolutionize theories and practices of management. The human relations movement grew from the Hawthorne studies. These experiments have come to be known as the Hawthorne studies.
The Human Relations Movement
This movement was an offshoot of Hawthorne studies. A set of Harvard researchers, led by Elton Mayo carried out some experiments on worker productivity. The Harvard researchers indicated the way people were treated had an important impact on performance; individual and social processes played a significant part in shaping employee attitudes and behavior. Consequently, management needs to recognize the importance employee's requirements for recognition and social gratification. Mayo termed this notion the social man: people are motivated by social requirements and good on-the-job relationships and react better to work-group strain that to management activities.
Two of the best-known contributors that helped Progress the human relations movement were Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor.
Abraham Maslow: Abraham Maslow was a Psycologist who developed one of the most popular and recognized need theories. This is a theory of motivation that is centered on human need. This theory of needs according to Abraham Maslow, had three assumptions:
I. Human Needs are never completely satisfied.
II. Human Behavior is purposeful and is prompted by the demand for satisfaction.
III. Needs can be classified according to a hierarchical structure of importance, from the lowest to highest. Maslow broke down the needs hierarchy into five particular areas:
Ø Physiological needs: Maslow grouped all of bodily needs necessary for keeping basic human well‐being, for example food and beverage, into this category. After the need is fulfilled, however, it is no longer is a motivator.
Ø Safety needs. These needs include the need for fundamental safety, stability, protection, and freedom from fear. A standard state exists for someone to have all these demands generally satisfied. Otherwise, they become primary motivators.
Ø Belonging and love needs. After the physical and security needs are satisfied and are no longer motivators, the need for belonging and love emerges as a main motivator. The individual strives to set meaningful relationships with significant others.
Ø Esteem needs. An individual must develop self‐confidence and needs to achieve standing, reputation, fame, and glory.
Ø Self‐actualization needs. Assuming that all of the preceding needs from the hierarchy are fulfilled, an individual feels that a necessity to locate himself.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory helpedm Managers envision worker motivation.
Douglas McGregor Theory X and Theory Y: In Theory X, supervisors assume workers are naturally lazy and, thus, micromanage. In Theory Y, managers are more tolerant and allow workers more freedom in their own job. McGregor's concept of management is a good example of how behavior-management theory looks more into the "human" factors of management and motivates managers to understand how psychological characteristics can enhance or hinder worker performance.
Contribution of Behavioral Management theory
The theory provided significant insights into motivation, group dynamics, and other social processes in organizations. The concept Focused managerial attention on these very same processes. The theory contested the view that employees are tools and furthered the belief that employees are valuable resources. ·
Limitations of Behavioral Management theory
There are just a few limitations of this theory as the sophistication of individual behavior makes prediction of that behaviour difficult. Many behavioral theories have not yet been put to use because some supervisors are reluctant to adopt them. Contemporary study findings by researchers are often not conveyed to practicing managers in a clear form.