Leadership Management For Styles And Skills

More hands-on and more hands-off approach to business

Discuss about the Leadership Management for Styles and Skills.

Leadership means to lead the action of the employees so that the goals of an organization can be achieved. Effective Leadership will lead to better employee performance and increase in productivity (Flynn, G, 2008). It is the responsibility of the leader to motivate the employees and guide them about the work process and bring a feeling of morale among them (Collinge, C, Gibney, J and Mabey, C, 2013). The business leaders are responsible in serving a range of functions in the organization. It is the responsibility of the leaders to train the employees and bring effectiveness from their work and to control the actions of the employees. The employees are protected under the supervision of the leaders from the internal and external factors that can harm the rights of the employees in an organization (Moynihan, D and Titley, B. 2001).

Every manager considers different approaches in managing the team and their responsibilities. The way of dealing with these approaches depend upon the size of the company and other factors, one approach may be a favourable for one and unfavourable for another type of business (Egeland, B, 2011). Hands-on management is a type of micro management approach in which the manager is completely involved in handling the day to day decisions and transactions of their team. They give a proactive presence who keeps on motivating and encouraging the team continuously to ensure productive operation. The manager has to make sure that the team is fully engaged in the operation to achieve success. The major drawback of this approach is that it might result into constant interference creating a feeling among the workers that they are not trusted.

Hands-off manager puts more responsibility and pressure before the leaders to show less participation in day to day activities. This approach often relies on goals and ways to measure effectiveness. The members feel that they are well trained and feel confident to carry out their tasks in the best possible way due to minimal supervision and pressure. The drawback of this approach is that the members become over confident and assumes that further training and support is not required and subsequently lacks direction and vision to achieve the goals.

Bison should follow more hands-on approach to motivate and encourage the team towards the achievement of the company. The ability of the members to think critically will be enhanced and the dependence on authority will reduce. By following hands-on approach the manager can access more ideas and information from the customers and employees. The manager will come to know more insightful knowledge and details of the business. The constant participation of the manager will make the employees more focused and dedicated towards the tasks (Miller, K, 2014).

Effectiveness caused by the change in senior leadership

In MeatPack, the change in senior leadership has been effective when Bison introduced the concept of Human Synergistics Circumplex which provides a manner in which we can see, change and measure the thinking and behaviour responsible to drive the performance of individuals, groups and organization. This style helps in underlying the effectiveness of these groups into 12 styles further grouping them into three clusters depending upon their similarities – Constructive, Aggressive/ Defensive and Passive/ Defensive. The Constructive style is effective and helps in promoting the behaviour of individual and organization. Coming to the Passive/ Defensive style, it is that style which consistently detracts the overall effectiveness and the last one is Aggressive/ Defensive style, this style is basically inconsistent and has negative impact on the performance of the organization (Human Synergistics International, 2012).

While introducing this style Bison grouped these styles by addressing them with colours – red (aggressive / defensive), green (passive / defensive) and blue (constructive) and it was found that the organizational structure of MeatPack is red and there was an urgent need to convert it into a blue style that is to make the culture of the organization into a constructive one to increase the growth of the organization. Constructive cultures help the members to interact with each other and discuss the task so that there is no confusion in the performance. When the Constructive style was measured it was found that enthusiasm is needed to set goals and establish plan and then ways to pursue them. In Constructive style members enjoy their work and get a chance to develop themselves by involving in different new activities. The members are allowed to be open about their ideas and can deal with each other. It will also develop a friendly environment with a feeling of cooperation while working in groups. When the behavioural norms were measured it was found that most organizations are Defensive rather than being Constructive because members believe that they should interact with people by not threatening their own security and talking in self prospects (Cooke, R, 2015).

It is necessary to examine that how organizational culture can influence the success by changing strategy. It was found that the members of the organization are inclined to change according to the goals and mission of the company. Though it is considered that certain senior management are a set of values and culture that cannot be changed but this is a wrong perception, we need to change the organization culture according to the goals. It is said that understanding the culture is very beneficial as it will helps in determining whether the members take the change positively or not and to know that assess the root cause of the problems arising in the company by showing better performance.

Senior leadership efforts to bring change in the Organization

The leadership in an organization means an ability of the management to guide and protect the company benefits by realizing the company targets and employees needs and hence bringing them together to achieve the common goal (Mattone, J, Vaidya, N, 2016). The evolution and cultivation of an organization totally depends upon the senior leadership.  An organizational leadership describes a person who has to promote change by keeping in view its vision and strategy (Cran, C, 2015).  The organizational sustainability and success is incomplete without the role of a senior leadership (Mayhew, R, 2016).

The effective leaders make straight and clear vision to view the clear vision of the change in future, without vision the successful changes becomes difficult (Adeniyi, M, 2007). The senior leadership can make the changes effective by interconnecting people working in the company and its process; the organizational culture must be able to change its beliefs and values from conservative to innovative (Wageman, R et al., 2008). The role of senior leadership must be supportive, consultative and instructive. Managing technologies is also the task of senior leadership. The role of a leader is important and it cannot be denied. The senior leadership can bring effectiveness in the change by handling and integrating all the internal factors and well as external factors such as coping up with the political change and social change.

By investigating the family owned business, MeatPack it was analyzed that Bison’s plan to change the structure brought many changes in the management of the company such as the members were getting an opportunity to participate in decision making process. The members were more comfortable to face the risk and challenges brought before them as compared to the past when old working culture was followed. There was an emergence of feeling of collectiveness as the members desired for group directed goals. It also developed egalitarianism which means equal opportunity existed for advancement. It promoted time and space orientation to focus on past, present and future values and to make the layout of the organization either public or private or both (Pfister, J, 2009).

Hierarchical Organization

 A hierarchical organization is that type of organization where the entire entities except for one are working as a subordinate for the other entity (Meehan, C, 2016). This is a hierarchy arrangement which consists of a single power or a group of power at the top level and the lower authorities working under them. This is considered as a dominant way of managing things in an organization. In this type of organization a member can communicate only with their immediate subordinates and the immediate superior and this is major drawback of this structure. Now a day, many organizations are trying to move away from the traditional method of hierarchy as companies now believe in team work and want to establish networks with outsider suppliers. In Hierarchical Organization the members feel isolated as this reduces the scope of interdepartmental communication and cooperation among the members. The members will dedicate themselves to work for the departmental goals individually rather than focusing on organizational goal as a whole. This type of organization usually centralize their position and power at the highest level and it becomes difficult for small business person as he will be involved in making day to day decisions rather than thinking and solving the big issues concerning the organization. It also promotes Bureaucracy because communication process becomes slow leading to slow actions hence the company becomes inactive in taking decisions and making changes during urgency (Johnson, S, 2016).

Management of Organizational Culture

Horizontal Organization is also known as Flat Organization in which there is very few or no levels of formality between the staffs and the executives. In this type of organization the members are capable to set up a self managing team under one head this is why it is known as a flat organization because the level of responsibility lying with a manager is large as compared to the tall organization (Hawthorne, M, 2016).  The horizontal structure establishes an employee-centred approach so that more emphasis can be given to teamwork and collaboration while working. This will make the employees more focused and energetic in achieving the desired goals. This structure makes an organization like a small town where everybody knows everyone and can easily discuss their problems and ideas with ease. When a group under horizontal structure performs well it becomes beneficial for all the members of that group. It facilitates job satisfaction that ultimately brings motivation and willingness to work more among the workers. Productivity is also increased causing an inclusive place to work relating to culture and environment (Buleen, C, 2016).

A fact about cultural change is that it affects business at some point. Changes in an organization sometimes become necessary to meet the future needs, and it is obvious that a company has to face barriers and various challenges while making change in the organizational structure (Rick, T, 2015).  Step by step planning is must while changing the structure, Bison must make a relevant plan to bring change in his company and should understand what exactly in needed and what are the ways to achieve them. The new structure developed should be more effective and defined as compared to the new one. The duties and activities of the members and authorities should be communicated properly and a record shall be maintained regarding the tasks allocated (Brafield, J, 2006).

 A key component in making change is the time line. During the change make sure there is sufficient time to deal with the problems and barriers to cultural change. The decision about bringing change should be permitted by the top level management because unless everyone on the board does not agree to the plan it becomes impossible to implement the change. Make the managers and staffs aware about the change so that they can work according to the new cultural change from the initial stage. To avoid rumours and fear in an organization communicate with the employees because they should know what is happening and whether it is positive or negative for them. The feeling of uncertainties shall be removed by making a direct communication and updating regularly about the policies and plans. In most of the cases employees are the main reason behind resistance to change, they are so comfortable with their current way of running the business and they think that change will bring hurdles and difficulties in their work. They are not willing to learn again about their jobs. To help transition Bison supported the employees by providing training before allocating any new responsibility to the employees.

Change in Structure from Hierarchical to Horizontal Organization

Bison’s decision to change the structure of the organization from Hierarchical to Horizontal Organization is an effective one as it will promote MeatPack to accomplish its desired goals within particular period of time. There will be an encouragement in the feeling of members to work collective rather than focusing on departmental goals that do not bring any benefit to the organization as a whole. If the organization is successful in changing the aggressive behaviour of the members to a constructive one MeatPack will definitely perform its activities better than before. Hence we can conclude by saying that it is effective enough to change the senior leadership taking place in MeatPack. The senior leadership should change their working culture to promote open dialogue in this way better idea will be developed as everyone will be free to discuss and keep their point of view. Too much of strictness in the organization will bring a feeling of fear and the workers will follow the guidance of their respective superior without being innovative and creative (Frost, S, 2016).

Conclusion

In every organization senior leadership and cultural changes plays a very important role. To accomplish the organizational goals effectively and efficiently, the members and the staffs should be aware about such change. In MeatPack, Bison has changed the organizational structure of the company from hierarchical to horizontal to bring more efficiency in the company. It is advisable for a company to change its management according to the needs and wants of the external environment. Bison’s decision to change its cultural structure was because he felt the need to provide training and guidance to the workers, to make them familiar with the changes that takes places due to technological changes. By interfering and controlling the activities of the organization the workers started to show more interest and dedication in their work. They feel motivated and encouraged. Proper guidance and training helps in bringing out inner talent of the workers which was impossible in hierarchical approach. Hierarchical structure is not as effective as horizontal approach in making the business function smoothly to accomplish its goal. Bison should put more hands on to encourage the team by assessing to new ideas and technologies.

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