Management and leadership devt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management and leadership devt - Essay Example Current paper focuses on the examination of the development of leadership, as a core element of modern organizations. At the same time, reference is made to the changes in the styles of leadership, following the changes in market conditions and the organizational potentials worldwide. The relationship between management and leadership is also explored, aiming to understand the power of leader to control organizational operations. It is proved that leadership tends to change continuously; however, the level of this process is not standardized. It is assumed that the potentials of leaders to act independently in each organization can vary, under the influence of the internal organizational environment and the local market ethics. 2. Leadership – description and development The characteristics and the role of leadership in modern organizations are likely to be differentiated in accordance with the conditions of the internal and the external organizational environment. Up to a lev el, such differentiation is justified taking into consideration the fact that the needs of each organization are not identical. However, similarities exist, which allow for assumptions in regard to the performance of leadership in different organizational and market conditions. The understanding of the process of change as occurring in leadership styles requires the reference to the definition of the specific concept. The characteristics of leadership should be also analytically described in order to identify the potentials of the specific concept to be further developed. 2.1 Definition of leadership In accordance with Van Velsor et al. (2010) the traditional definition of leadership as the establishment of shared goals that followers have to support, should be alternated in order to become more effective. It is suggested that leadership is considered as ‘the process of producing direction, alignment and commitment (DAC) in collectives’ (Van Velsor et al. 2010). 2.2 Mai n characteristics of leadership The leadership, as described above, is highly differentiated by management. Because both these concepts are related to modern business activities, their relationship should be further explained making sure that the role and the potentials of each one of them will be made clear. In accordance with Ryan (2007) the role of leader refers to the establishment of the organization’s vision and mission. On the contrary, the manager has to develop the measures necessary for the realization of organization’s vision and the achievement of organization’s targets (as set by the leader). Furthermore, the leader is likely to create inspiration to the employees urging them to develop their skills (Stimson et al. 2009). The manager has to support employees in their efforts to improve their capabilities and knowledge but he is not expected to inspire the employees, mostly because his power in the organization is limited. Moreover, the leader establ ishes the organizational culture; the manager needs to act in accordance with the organizational culture and values having the power to choose among the policies used for the promotion of organizational culture through the firm’s daily activities (Derr et al. 2002). At the same time, the leader needs to promote innovation, ensuring that the competitiveness of his organization is kept at high levels (Lussier et al. 2009).