Management Principles Management

Leadership Model Paper: Management Principles

Research suggests that everyone is a manager in their own way. For instance, everyone manages his finances, time, careers and relationships. These examples of managing are simple and straightforward. However, when concepts of management apply in organizations, management becomes complex. At such a point, it calls for extensive studying in order to understand the theoretical basis of management. The application of management and the enunciation of management practices date back to the 19th century. In addition, management, organization, leadership, and organizational concepts have a link, in that they all connect to an organization's effectiveness (Bolden et al., 2003). The establishment of management as an academic discipline is a recent development attributed to the works of Peter F. Ducker in the 20th century.

The body of knowledge is taught in learning institutions and in programs that prepare managers for tasks in every organization. Managers are people who receive a formal appointment to positions of authority in firms, companies or organizations. Owing to their authority, the managers facilitate others to do their work and are responsible to a higher power for work outcomes. The main differences between levels of managers are the extent of authority and scope of their responsibility for work outcomes. Line managers are responsible for managing people and things while staff managers, for instance the human resource manager support the work done by the line managers.

The society will judge managers owing to their organizational performance. The way they set their organization's standards, coordinate and integrate teamwork, make decisions, and design the organization, will have a hand in the results on the performance. Research suggests that high-performing organizations have a value approach that enhances their organization's objectives. Additionally, research also distinguishes managers and leaders based on the perception that managing is central to caretaking and maintaining status quo, whereas leading is central to vision and dynamic. However, this distinction does not hold any practical application (Crippen, 2005). Therefore, managers will have to ensure effective and current organizational activities. In addition, they will have to ensure they envision the organization's future and use the vision to transform the organization when needed.

Background of the Study

Leadership is a process that allows management to adopt pro-activeness rather than reactive in shaping the organization's future. A focused organizational leader will provide and develop visionary leadership in their organization. Such a leader understands and appreciates the nature of business management. Therefore, the leader will formulate responsive options to the changes concerning the management environment. In addition, the leader will develop viable strategies based on sustainable competitive advantages (Crippen, 2005). The leader will also develop a proactive approach concerning strategic management, rather than identifying and reacting to change, anticipates or even develops the change. Good leadership will improve the management or scarce organizational resources in the end improve the living standards of the society.

Leadership vs. Management

In any business, embracing an entrepreneurial spirit is vital for financial growth and the overall success of the organization. Therefore, for such businesses, they dedicate their efforts to ensure development of the business towards success. A continuous nurture of the business will make the managers and leaders aim at providing the best services and goods at cheap rates to gain a competitive advantage. Additionally, without contemplating on what constitute leadership and management, business scholars embark on a journey perceived to aim at achieving the overall objective. Ironically, these business leaders or managers are inadequately experience owing to their expertise, background and interest to manage the business or organizations in a strategic manner (Crippen, 2005). Overall, management and leadership are essential for success, and if undermined, the businesses may fail to achieve their overall objectives.

Leadership is a process that enables a group member to impact fellow colleagues towards accomplishing the common objective. Although there are different leadership styles, there are specific leadership components that will automatically exist in all the leadership-style definitions (Hater and Bass, 1988). The varying definitions will undisputedly agree that leadership is a process; it incorporates influence, includes accomplishment of a well-labeled objective, and happens in a group context. Therefore, regardless of the functioning of leadership, the elements will play an important contributing role in the used theory and definition of leadership.

From a different perspective, management is understood from different definitions. In addition, this does not suggest that an individual cannot carry out both the leadership and management roles. However, people perceive management as following a definition, which is quite different from leadership. This is because...

This means that management and leadership are perceived to have numerous similarities. Both management and leadership are ways of influencing and collaborating with people aiming at achieving the overall objective. However, it is possible to view both management and leadership fields in an independent manner.
Leadership is an old concept employed in business for many centuries. On the other hand, management is a concept, which developed over the last ten decades because of industrial transformation. Several scholars view the management as an approach through which activities are accomplished in a way that makes it possible to master routines. Therefore, leading aims at influencing others and establishment of a vision through which can enhance change (Crippen, 2005). Other scholars understand leadership as a relationship with multidisciplinary impact while management is an authoritarian leadership aligned towards a particular direction.

In addition, other scholars suggest that management and leadership are two different business approaches that different individuals should handle. For example, when management activities aimed at helping employees to achieve organizational objectives, this form of management operates under the leadership. In addition, when leaders carry out activities such as organizing, planning, controlling and staffing, the leaders are operating under management (Bolden et al., 2003). This is a typical example that suggests that the two elements will involve interchanging and similar tasks making it hard to isolate the both.

Statement of the Problem

Every organization in the globe, big or small needs good leadership. Resources both man and the material will require good leadership to avoid wastage owing to their scarce nature. In developing organizational leaders, this will enhance financial development and subsequently enhance growth in the developing countries. However, there exists controversy as to the transferability of management practices and theories because most of the theories and techniques related to management are central to western concepts and values approaches. In management, there is an agreement that the eventual approach to leadership is the most appropriate. However, the leadership style adopted should rely on the virtues and character of the leader, subordinates and the organizational culture.

Review of Literature

Leadership still is a complex phenomenon leading to the development of many theories. This is because there are numerous definitions about what it is an under what conditions is leadership apparent. For many years, people have been looking for direction, purpose and meaning to guide their general activities (Washington, 2007). Leadership is vital for them to realize direction, purpose, imagination and passion in times of rapid change. This is because in such times, people will look for leaders for hope, inspiration and a pathway that will lead them to somewhere desirable. Leadership has had a great influence on culture history and the civilization of humankind; theoretical explanations for it have proffered throughout history (Hater and Bass, 1988).

Leadership theories

Many theories developed in a bid to explain of what leadership or where leadership emerges. The Trait Approach endured up to the late 1940s suggested that leadership ability is inborn. However, in the late 1940s Behavioral Approach gained dominance because it advocated that the effectiveness in leadership have to do with the leader's behavior. In the late 1960s to around 1980, the Contingency Approach gained popularity claiming that effective leadership depends on the situation (Washington, 2007). Recent approaches to leadership focus on vision and charisma. Later on some other concepts such as transactional and transformational leadership developed.

Trait Theories of Leadership

The study of exceptional traits of leaders emerged from the belief that leadership and abilities such as intelligence were inherited. Additionally, other factors including birth order, status and liberal parents highly have a correlation to some leadership abilities. This model of leadership theory dominated in the studies concerning leadership until the 1950s. The approach tired to define a varying physical or psychological attributes of an individual that attempts to explain the behavior of leaders (Dereli, 2007). The approach suggests that leadership ability is inborn. However, the approach had some shortcomings. First, the approach does not clarify the most important traits and the least important. Secondly, some of the traits suggested overlap. For instance, the theory lists tact, judgment and common sense as separate traits, but the last trait covers the preceding traits.

Thirdly, most of the studies on traits do not provide a difference between traits assist to become a leader and those traits that made one maintain leadership. Another shortcoming was that most of the studies on traits are descriptive. There is a pre-assumption that the leader's traits existed before leadership and most of them failed to approach the…