Essentials of Management

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Leadership abilities influenced by Personality Traits
Motivational Theory
Cohesive Work Groups
Managerial Styles
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

Management is an important aspect in an organisation. It is a process of working with a range of resources, which include finances, materials, time and people to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization (Balkin, Cardy & Gomez-Mejia 2008, p.20). Organisations all over the world strive to achieve maximum production and profit at reduced costs and with minimum resource waste; therefore managers of organisations put in place measures, which help, achieve effective and efficient management.

Leadership abilities influenced by Personality Traits

Organizational leadership refers to the ability of those in leadership positions in an organization to influence change in behavior of the workforce to reflect the goals and the mission of the organization. Leadership personality enables those in leadership positions in the management to organise the human resource into efficient units and also monitor the distribution of the organsation’s other assets and therefore ensure excellent progress of the organisation’s business processes.

Predictors of leadership abilities that are influenced by one’s personality traits include the individual’s openness to experience and acquire new knowledge and skills. Openness refers to being broad-minded, original and being imaginative. It involves being curious to acquire more information about a situation. Such individuals are intelligent and are able to make critical judgments about situations. They are creative and innovative in their job performance.

The other trait is conscientiousness which is the extent to which an individual is achievement-oriented and responsible as well as the individual’s carefulness. The individual should also have emotional stability and should also exhibit extraversion in his or her character. Finally the individual needs to agreeable. Being agreeable means willingness to accept and tolerate others’ opinions. These personality traits can help determine the degree of an individual’s ability to an organisation or a group (Achua, & Lussier, 2009, pp.33-35).

Personality traits would help understand the idiosyncratic nature that makes an individual to be who he or she is. An individual’s personality traits can help predict his or her ability to influence the performance of his or her subordinates. They would help predict an individual’s ability to meet the job challenges, lead people as well as to respect the self and others. Personality traits would help predict how an individual would behave in social situations.

It would help determine one’s boldness, liveliness, self-reliance as well as privateness. They help determine the nature of a person’s leadership as well as the person’s leadership skills in ‘doing whatever it takes’ to achieve success. Thus they would help predict an individual’s leadership competencies. Personality traits would help determine a person’s resourcefulness, decisiveness as well as the person’s ability to build and mend relationships (Achua, & Lussier, 2009, pp.34-38).

Individual who are emotionally stable and have lower anxiety are less likely to have difficulties in decision making and are therefore more decisive. Individuals who exhibit social boldness and dominance are likely to have the capacity to influence people’s behaviour in a workplace.

Social boldness would help determine a person’s confidence in dealing with people especially in communicating what needs to be done and in expressing their ideas. A person’s dominance would also determine his or her ability and preparedness to support his or her ideas and priorities to get tasks performed in their way (Achua, & Lussier, 2009, pp.34-38).

Personality traits of an individual could help predict his or her achievement drive as well as leadership motivation to lead and achieve an organisation’s goals. They could also help predict an individual’s cognitive ability to exercise good judgment and creativity. They could also help predict an individual’s emotional maturity and charisma as well as flexibility in dealing with people and situations (Achua, & Lussier, 2009, pp.34-38).

A good leader guides the workforce in identifying goals and strategic plans for achieving those goals. Good leadership enables those in management positions to continuously evaluate the progress of business processes and therefore make adjustments to ensure continuity and efficiency in the organisation.

Leaders create an environment for change. They are often preoccupied by visionary ideas which consequently drive and stimulate the workforce to work hard by enabling them see the reality out of visions. Managers are also hardworking, analytical and are also fair-minded. Leaders take great pride in initiating improvements in the organization as they always want to be associated with the organisation (Bratton, Forshaw, Mills, A. & Mills, C 2007, p. 20).

Leaders have ambition and energy to drive and effect the necessary change in the organization. They are confident and have the desire to lead and take responsibilities in organizations. They have the desire to influence other members of the organisation through diplomatic and tactful ways. Leaders are intelligent, creative and have the job-relevant knowledge to initiate and motivate innovativeness in the workforce. They are also honest and value integrity.

Motivational Theory

Motivational theory enables managers to become both employee-oriented and work-oriented. They use influence tactics to change behaviour of the workforce through participation, inspiration as well as rational persuasion; and therefore align their goals and aspirations to those of the organization. The theory enables leaders to understand and work towards achieving a common goal. The leader should be able to coordinate the efforts of those under him or her and align their operational efforts to achieve the organisation’s goals.

Thus, the leader should balance the concerns of the workforce and the requirements of the task without leaning on one side. The leader should understand that conflicts are inevitable in any organization and is therefore be prepared to solve conflicts that arise in the organization. He or she treats his or her subordinates equally (Wood, J. & Wood, M. 2004, p.134).

According to Fredrick Taylor, a good leader simplifies the tasks to make them easier to accomplish within a shorter period. He or she should be innovative so as to provide the best means possible to perform the task.

Effective leadership also requires that the manager understands the ability of each employee in the organization and therefore during division of labour he or she places each worker to a task that best matches his or her ability. The leader should plan the tasks that workers are able to accomplish to avoid making the workers perform under pressure. Taylor also asserts that workers would be more motivated to optimally perform if provided with monetary incentives.

They would perform optimally if all these conditions were to be made available to them. These conditions would stimulate the workers to acquire more organizational commitment as well as job involvement. The managers should provide a working environment that enables employees achieve self-actualization. If these conditions would enable organisations realise maximum production from its resources (Wood, J. & Wood, M. 2004, p.134).

A good leader should also be able to eliminate physiological and psychological stresses that workers may experience in the organization during their operations in the organization. The leader should provide social support and should also be able to develop stress responses to individuals who are stressed in the organization.

Thus the leader or the manager should avoid providing work overload to workers and should also reduce an individual’s role in the organization. Each person’s role in the organization should be clearly defined to avoid role ambiguity and confusion in the organisation. The manager’s interpersonal relationships with the workers should be warm and motivating by applying positive communication processes (Vroom 1994, p. 43).

Motivational theory enables managers empower employees by improving their capacity to perform better in their areas of job operations by improving their skills and developing their talents and thus giving them a chance for carrier growth. This would make them more efficient and effective in meeting the expectations of the total reward management strategy (Armstrong 2006, p.560).

It also includes involving them in decision making within their departments and in the organisation. Incorporating the views of employees in the management and in decision-making makes them feel appreciated and valued by the organisation and are therefore motivated to dedicate all their efforts and skills to enable the organisation achieve its goals and objectives.

Employee empowerment also involves giving them a chance to discuss the goals of the company and reward schemes that they would best prefer and as such they are more motivated to work towards achieving goals which they have helped set (Jiang, Xiao, Qi, & Xiao 2009, p.180).

The rewards are also made to be more employee-oriented. Employee empowerment also contributes to their job satisfaction and is highly associated with good leadership in the organisation (Armstrong 2006, p. 808). Good leadership and management in an organisation help enhance excellent management of the workforce (Armstrong & Murlis 2004, p.4).

Effective management involves improving group functioning through team building. The manager enhances problem-solving in the functional groups that exist in the organization. The group is given the opportunity to understand the role of each individual in the organisation through role analysis.

Cohesive Work Groups

Employees come into organisations with different values, attitudes, cultures as well as beliefs which are influenced by various factors. It is therefore important for organisations to achieve unity in diversity by developing strong and more cohesive work groups.

The management should therefore provide leadership that provides the workers with the opportunity for an extended individualized interaction as well as accessibility to information. Thus, communication processes in the organisation should involve verbal and non-verbal communication which enhances social interaction among the workers in the organisation.

Achieving strong and cohesive work groups in an organisation improves communication and also attracts friendships among the workers thereby reducing interpersonal conflicts. This helps achieve greater job satisfaction among the group members in the organisation.

Cohesive teams are more homogeneous and therefore interact and perform their tasks more effectively as compared to heterogeneous groups. They are more effective in identifying problems and in developing solutions to problems. Cohesive teams share a universal goal and therefore work collectively to achieve the goal; as such they exhibit a higher degree of commitment in understanding their roles in the tasks assigned to them (Wood, J. & Wood M. 2002, p. 22).

The roles that cohesive teams play in an organisation are more significant than individualistic roles. The manager’s role is therefore to provide the necessary technical skills and ideas as well as to oversee the group’s progress to ensure that the group achieves its goal.

Managerial Styles

Managers who doubt the employee’s competence tend to be more detail-oriented. Such managers are emotionally insecure and therefore increase pressure on employee’s performance. They monitor every detail of the business processes of the organisation and are also not willing to delegate decisions.

They require that their subordinates consult them before making any decisions even if the decisions are supposed to be made by their subordinates. Such managers restrict information from reaching other segments of the organisation particularly the lower level employees. They are more focused on detailed performance feedbacks (Naylor 1999, p. 74).

On the other hand, managers who trust their employees’ ability and feel that the employees are doing credible job would adopt a more democratic style of management. Such managers are likely to involve employees in decision-making. They are likely to implement and encourage a communication process which satisfies every employee in the organisation. They help upgrade employees’ skills to improve the quality of performance in the organisation and enhance motivation in the workforce (Naylor 1999, p. 74).

Conclusion

The managers have to be competent and be able to provide effective leadership that satisfies all the requirements of the organization’s operations. Monitoring and evaluating all the business processes and operations, as well as effective human resource management is very significant in organisation management.

Reference List

Achua, C., F, & Lussier, R., N., 2009, Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development. Virginia: Cengage Learning. p. 33-35.

Armstrong, M., 2006, A hand book for human resource management practice, 10^th ed. London: Kogan Page Limited. pp. 275-810.

Balkin, D. B., Cardy, R. L, & Gomez-Mejia, L. R., 2008, Management: People, performance, change, 3rd edition. New York, New York USA: McGraw-Hill. p. 20.

Bratton, J., Forshaw, C., Mills, A. J., & Mills, J. C. H., 2007, Organizational behaviour in a global context. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press. p. 20.

Jiang, Z., Xiao, Q., Qi, H., & Xiao, L., 2009,Total reward strategy: A human resources management strategy going with the trend of the times. International Journal of Business Management, 4(11). Beijing: Democracy and Construction publishing. P. 180.

Naylor, J., 1999, Management. New York: Finance Times. p. 74.

Wood, J. C, & Wood, M. C., 2004, George Elton Mayo: Critical Evaluations in Business and Management. New York: Routldge. p. 129-159.

Wood, J. C & Wood M. C., 2002, Henri Fayol: critical evaluations in business and management. London, New York, Routledge. pp. 20-35.

Vroom, V. H. (1994). Work and motivation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. p.43.

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