Dr. Tom D.
McFarland, Management Consultant
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Dr. Tom D.
McFarland, Management Consultant |
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| Leadership We have a ceaseless curiosity about what leaders do and how they get things done. There are several excellent theories about leadership but we do not have a universally accepted definition or a general theory of leadership. And we are not likely to have either in the foreseeable future. But a growing consensus accepts a qualitative difference between leadership and management. It is widely accepted that leadership establishes direction, aligns people through communication, motivates and inspires, and produces change while managers plan, organize, direct, and control. Key roles for both leaders and managers are informational, interpersonal, and decisional. Bennis and Townsend articulated the four competencies of leaders to be creating a vision, meaning through communication, empowerment, and self-understanding. It is said that managers flourish in a stable environment while leaders are indispensable in a dynamic business environment. Leadership requires a vision, the ability to articulate that vision, and the trust of followers. Nothing happens in an organization until a member makes it happen. Leaders must insure that followers understand what is expected of them so that actions achieve goals. To clarify expectations, leaders must create a balance between internal competition and cooperation, between flexibility and control, and among efficiency, proficiency, innovation, and stability. This difficult balancing act can frequently be improved with expert advice. Leaders must have a clear vision of where to take the company and how to respond to the changing demands that are placed on it. They must, in short, anticipate the context they envision for the future and then arrange the internal conditions that will encourage successful activities and behaviors by organizational members. The most critical behaviors in any firm are those of the leaders as they balance the concerns for getting the job done, for their people, and for adapting. Timely, accurate decisions, based on facts and knowledge, increase productivity and reduce wasted effort and resources. This is critical since all changes originate in a decision. Leaders must be knowledgeable of the dynamic processes that occur within their departments, groups, and teams. And they must be sensitive to the organization’s culture and its evolutionary response to critical events and actions of significant members. Ineffective activities should be identified and processes or structures modified to bring about improvement. Probably the most important function of a leader is to set the example and to be a role model for their followers. |
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