Essay on Management: Leadership and Management in Professional Contexts

In the late 1920s, a research was conducted at Western Electrics Hawthorne Works located in Chicago to examine the various factors affecting productivity in the company. The research revealed that workers are likely to work efficiently in a supervised environment giving rise to the management theories (Renz, 2016). To understand management, the organization needs to pay attention to the science, administration and the behavioral effects of production and work. Having an understanding of the management theories helps a manager to develop problem solving skills and dispute resolution tactics.

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Management consists of four key elements. It is a process that involves interrelated social and technical activities and also, a medium of accomplishing an organizations objectives (Nahavandi, 2016). The other element is that it attains the set objectives by using people and the available resources in a formal setting. The work of the management in a company is to provide an appropriate environment for effective work performance (Knott and Scragg, 2016). It is also the duty of management in the company to plan, organize, control, direct and, staff through proper decision-making tactics. To make the right choices during decision -making, managers should identify and analyze the problem at hand and make decisions structured within the five management functions.

Managers are required to use their interpersonal, technical and, conceptual skills to achieve the organizations objectives. The technical skills involve a managers ability to use processes and techniques of managing such as the ability to prepare a budget and reorganizing a work group (Renz, 2016). These skills, however, become insignificant as one becomes more senior. On the other hand, conceptual skills refer to the mental ability of a manager develop an interaction pattern between situations and the consequences of the decisions made regarding the situations. Interpersonal skills refer to the ability to cooperate with other employees, understanding and, motivating them to produce the best results (Nahavandi, 2016). An effective management also requires political, commercial and governance competency to increase the productivity of an organization. This mainly requires knowledge on government policies and any change made in the policies and also on the continuously changing economic market (Knott and Scragg, 2016).

Managements need to familiarize themselves with effective problem-solving skills since the result of a problematic situation affects the general allocation of resources and the quality of performance ( Ibarra & Petriglieri, 2016). To effectively solve a problematic situation, the manager should identify the problem and evaluate the information on the problem. It is also advisable to make assumptions which extend the nature of the problem making it easier to solve (Ubben, Hughes and Norris, 2015). The manager can then develop all possible solutions to the problem and chose among them, the most applicable one. Finally, the manager can implement the most applicable solution and later evaluate the results of the solution.

To increase productivity in an organization, managers should adopt both the strategic and operational planning methods (Ibarra &Petriglieri, 2016). Strategic planning involves the long-term goals set by the organization and the effective measures put in place to ensure the accomplishments of the goals. Operation planning, on the other hand, addresses the measures put in place to help individual departments achieve their own set goals (Ubben, Hughes and Norris, 2015). Operational planning in an organization should be in coordination with the strategic planning.

The different types of leadership styles applicable in an organization include the autocratic, democratic and, the laissez-fair leadership styles. In the autocratic leadership style, the managers or leaders tell the employees what to do and how to accomplish the tasks without any advice from the employees (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). This style is mostly applicable in cases where the manager has the solution to a problem and a motivated work force. Its main advantage is that the decision-making period is shortened while the disadvantage of using the method is that it leaves out more applicable solutions to the problem affecting the company (Huffman, Hipp, Pankake, and Moller, 2014). The democratic leadership style involves participation of more than one employee in the decision-making process even though the leader has the final say. This style is very advantageous because it provides a diversity of answers hence providing greater creativity but also disadvantageous due to the fact that the decision-making process takes a longer process (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). Finally, the Laissez-faire leadership style is used when the manager allows the employees to make decisions regarding the problem. It is mainly applicable to instances where the manager completely trusts the employees having set the limits of the process.

There are, however, changing trends in the professional settings that affect management. Currently, organizations are more focused on the dynamic requirements of the competitive business world and strategies (Thorpe, 2016). In addition to that, there is continuous reorganization in companies to either maintain or gain the competitive advantage, making it hard to ensure job security and provide lifelong careers. This affects management because the hierarchical structure is less significant giving the decision authority to any form of management (Evans, 2014). There are two main factors that drive the continuous change in the nature of work. The pressure mounted on organizations to be more competitive and agile and the continuous inventions of new communication and information technologies especially the internet and mobile technologies which enable separation of work from time and space.

Managers, therefore, need to come up with new management techniques in accordance to the changing technological and economic markets since the old managing methods are not applicable to the current trends (Evans, 2014). Regarding the workplace solutions, the interior of companies needs to be expanded to accommodate more meeting space and the use of project rooms. Management should also have smaller workspaces for easier analysis of productivity and offer mobile support to the employees (Thorpe, 2016). For globalization purposes, the management needs to increase the use of video conferencing calls and provide flexible infrastructure for the continuous reorganization of the company. To provide efficient use of space at a reduced cost, the management needs to implement a centralized filing system and sharing of workspaces (McGivern, Currie, Ferlie, Fitzgerald and Waring, 2015). Providing an overall spatial variety also enables the accommodation of different types of work at the same time.

Most managers have developed criteria of placing employees into teams to enhance efficiency at work. Teamwork is important because placing people who have a common goal in a team increases the rate and the efficiency at which work is done (Thorpe, 2016). Teamwork, however, has a number of advantages and disadvantages. Its advantages include an equal distribution of work among the employees which makes it easier to accomplish tasks in the organization (Evans, 2014). The method is always a good way of developing both communication and leadership skills by engaging actively in the group and also acting as a bridge between the management and the other group members (McGivern, Currie, Ferlie, Fitzgerald, Land Waring, 2015). The main disadvantage of teamwork is the unequal participation of every member in the assigned project since in every group; there exist active and passive members. In addition to that, teamwork experiences a variety of clash of ideas since every member wants the project to be done in his or her own way which challenges coordination among the members (Noordegraaf, 2016). The management should, therefore, come up with measures that make sure the teams are productive.

There are proposed models of how to approach the current changes in the organizational management and structure. The Top-down change management was developed on the assumption that if the people who initiated the change do things correctly, then the change can occur smoothly apart from the resistance from a few employees in the company (Giacalone and Rosenfeld, 2013). The transformational model is based on letting the leaders set a personal example and later challenging the employees to be more creative and innovative. The strategic change management model mainly aims to initiate new cultures at work, allowing the employees to experience the benefits of the changes made in the organization (Noordegraaf, 2016). The models are common in terms of highlighting the importance of good leadership skills, effective communications, and, the involvement of employees in the change process.

Constant changes in the organizational structures of a company affect leadership and management roles by rearranging the whole structure hence causing confusion. Although change is important in an organization since it enhances productivity, there might be resistances especially from the employees which require maximum attention from the managers (Beckman, 2017). Change also negatively affects the managers in terms of segmentalism a situation whereby the placing actions, events and problems in the organization are put into different compartments (Evans, 2014). This makes it hard to effectively apply problem solving skills since supports a shallow view of problems. Transformational change also challenges the status quo of managers within the company because it gives rise to alternative structures parallel to the existing managerial positions. Managers therefore need to work very hard to defend their managerial positions (Hibbert, and Cunliffe, 2015). In the public sector organizations, transformational changes pose a lot of challenges to the bureaucratic nature of the system. This because the organizations have rigid structural constraints supported by the government.

Leaders providing human services should positively welcome innovation because it constantly provides new ways of serving people. Managers need to harness the new burgeoning ideas and innovations to achieve both the short and the long-term goals of the company (Beckmann, 2017). One of the promising trends in human services is the non-traditional partnerships. Human service organizations are currently exploring nontraditional partnerships and maximizing on the available resources and diverse opinions (Evans, 2014). Partnerships broaden the discussion involving the role of human services with the neighboring communities and states. It also forces the partnering organizations to consider core competencies by determining collectively the best to produce a greater, system-wide impact at a lower cost (Hibbert and Cunliffe, 2015). In addition to that, it provides better program-centered accountabilities hence creating a stronger system for social collaboration.

The health and human services integration is one of the implementations from the government that directly tends to human services whose mission is to deliver services and enable access to health services to the whole population (Wilson, 2014). The health act has progressively been improved over the years, creating a stronger connection between the areas that required the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The act provides an effective indication of the overall population health hence the effectiveness of the social programs (Gagnon and Collinson, 2014).

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