Managers, leadership and decision making Flashcards
What is leadership?
The action of leading a group of people or an organisation, or the ability to do this.
What are the properties of leadership?
Innovators (encourage others to accept change)
Natural abilities and instincts
Respected and trusted by followers
What is management?
The process of dealing with or controlling things or people, the responsibility for and control of a company or organisation.
What are the properties of management?
Directing and monitoring others
Problem solver
Official position of responsibility
What is the difference between leaders and managers?
Leaders have followers while managers have subordinates to appeal to and inspire.
Leaders will have good ideas but lack the ability to plan and oversee the work so their ideas may not be realised.
Managers avoid risks while leaders seeks risks so they break rules to get things done.
What are the benefits of charismatic leaders?
They find it easier to attract people to their course as they promise transactional benefits such as extrinsic rewards (wages, salaries) and intrinsic rewards (becoming a better person)
What is a transactional relationship?
Manager tells the subordinates what to do and subordinates follow because of reward wage/salary.
What are the 4 types of leadership styles?
Autocratic
Democratic
Paternalistic
Laissez-faire
What is autocratic leadership and what are the advantages and disadvantages?
Management makes decisions with little or no input and is expected to be followed without question e.g. army
+ allows for quick decision-making, useful in stressful/ life-or-death situations, and works well in environments where clear directive leadership is needed.
- views/opinions of subordinates are not taken into account, ignores creative solutions to problems
What is democratic leadership and what are the advantages and disadvantages?
Allows employees to help in the decision-making process e.g. John Lewis
+ Employees more motivated and valued, suitable in situations where the employees are highly skilled, allows and encourages employees to grow and develop into their roles.
- longer time for decision-making, staff may have their own agenda/ unreliable, depends on the skills and knowledge of employees
What is paternalistic leadership and what are the advantages and disadvantages?
Makes the right decisions for the employees that they are responsible for (like a father figure) e.g. innocent smoothies
+ low rate of employee turnover which reduces recruitment cost, effective in environments with lots of low-skilled and inexperienced workers, who require direction and guidance
- not using the skills and knowledge of employees, if the wrong decision is made employees can become demotivated
What is laissez-faire leadership and what are the advantages and disadvantages?
Employees can carry out activities and make decisions freely e.g. Bill gates
+ suitable for creative environments, encourages employees to grow and develop.
- too relaxed due to lack of supervision which can lead to demotivation
What is the Tannenbaum Schmidt continuum?
Model of leadership theory that shows the relationship between the level of freedom that a manager chooses to give to a team and the level of authority used by the manager.
What are the 4 types of decision-making?
Programmed decisions- deal with familiar problems e.g. reordering stock
Non-programmed decisions -deal with unique situations/ unstructured decisions that can be risky e.g. major investment
Strategic decisions- long-term and involves more resources making it difficult to reverse
Tactical decisions- short-term and are taken more regularly so involve fewer resources e.g. reordering stock.
What are the advantages of scientific decision-making?
Reliable as it is evidence-based
Highlight new opportunities
If something goes wrong it can quickly be fixed due to the information
