Blog four- Leadership

The term leadership can be interpreted in many different ways. Simply leadership is others following an individual. Leadership is sometimes a behavioural characteristic of an individual’s personality or can be an attribute of their job role, knowledge or wisdom. According to Mullins leadership ‘ is a relationship through which one person influences the behaviour or actions of other people (2010, p.373). The term management is also subject to many interpretations, it can be seen as an everyday activity that involves people interaction. It can be said that to an extend everyone is a manager as we manage our own time and make decisions as to whether or not to do something. The two terms leadership and management often interlink however management usually refers to one individual carrying out an objective through others and relates to a management role within an organisation. Leadership on the other hand is based on interpersonal behaviour, where followers are more than happy to just follow. This differs to management as there aren’t many individuals that are enthusiastic about being managed. Leadership does not necessarily take place within a hierarchy in an organisation as many managers outside an organisation are not seen in a leadership role.

The Blake and Mouton managerial grid is a method of evaluating different styles of management. The grid uses two principles in order to compare different managerial styles. These principles are concern for production and concern for people. Concern for production is represented on the vertical axis of the grid and relates to the level of production and emphasis on completing the tasks. Concern for people is represented on the vertical axis of the grid and relates to the level of emphasis the manger gives to their colleague’s needs and expectations. The conclusion that can be drawn from the grid is how the manager expresses concern about people or production. The four corners and the centre on the grid make up the five combinations of degree of concern for people and production these include the impoverished manager, the authority-compliance manager, the country club manager, the middle of the road manager and the team manager.

I have identified the leadership style of Philip Green and Partners as the team manager, which has a 9,9 rating. This means that they have a high concern for both production and people. As Mullins suggests ‘team managers create a situation whereby people can satisfy their own needs by commitment to the objectives of the organisation’ (2010, p.462).    Any problems are handled with staff directly to ensure any issues are resolved quickly. By discussing the problem staff are provided the opportunity to suggest their ideas. I believe that after reading the five different combinations of leadership style that this best describes Philip Green and Partners. As it is a small company all issues are resolved quickly to enable the team dynamics to remain constant. They believe it is important that the staff are recognised for their hard work rather than just focusing on the job itself.

Martin Luther King is a well know leader that revolutionised the way our society is seen today. He is greatly remembered for his leadership role during his campaign for peace and justice. He was an inspirational speaker who delivered the well known 'I have a dream speach at the civil rights march on August 1963. His non-violent approach to challanging white oppression grew him a large following which in turn helped to change society. I believe Martin Luther King is a strong leader beacuse he fought for his beliefs and as a result created equal rights for hundreds of thousand of black americans.

References

Books

Mullins, L. (2010) Management and organisational behaviour.9^th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

Websites

BBC history (2003) Martin Luther King [online]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/martin_luther_king_01.shtml Accessed 8 January 2011].

Google images (2011) The managerial leadership grid [online]. http://www.google.co.uk/imgages [accessed 8 January 2011].