Leadership and management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leadership and management - Essay Example In the 1940s and 1950s, many companies operated with very rigid, top-down hierarchies and business leaders at this time were rather annoyed at the concept of giving workers autonomy and decision-making power (Buchanan 2009). Today, however, decentralised business practices focus more on leadership as a primary trait to build followership, which include inspiring employees, building a communal vision and mission, and motivating others using a variety of psycho-social techniques. This is a major break from the traditional role of management, which is defined as planning roles and operations, organising employees and establishing appropriate evaluation methodologies and controls to ensure compliance and productivity (Nickels, McHugh and McHugh 2005). Thus, did Drucker get it right? It would seem so considering that his early conceptions of participative work environments have now become respected models within a variety of domestic and international businesses. However, Drucker’s assessment focuses on the management function, which differs significantly from theories of leadership that are more humanistic in nature, negating the importance of traditional managerial function to gain employee dedication and commitment to achieve organisational goals. This essay makes relevant comparisons to different models of leadership and management in order to understand whether Drucker’s viewpoint is accurate or whether this belief holds little relevance to the contemporary business organisation. The project identifies a real world industry example, along with a personal evaluation of the necessity to maintain strengths in leadership, in order to identify a definitive model of modern business practice that would be most pertinen t in dynamic and ever-changing business environments. Did Drucker actually get it right? In order to address this effectively, one must understand the differences between management and leadership and how they are applied in the contemporary organisation to improve productivity and engage employees to complete tasks according to strategic expectations. Leadership versus management One should consider the management practices in the technology industry, one that is dynamic and where change is constantly present in order to produce innovations that meet time-to-market expectations. Google, a leader in this industry, promotes a highly decentralised business model that provides workers with unique working conditions, including ping pong tables to facilitate collaboration, flexible working hours, and where team-working is a primary goal with minimal managerial supervision (Weber 2007). Google’s team philosophy and this decentralised business model continue to bring the company sig nificant competitive advantages by achieving faster launches of innovative products and services in an environment with very limited managerial presence. Respected models of psychology and sociology strongly iterate that establishment of social belonging in the organisation is a fundamental motivator leading to performance (Maslow 1998; Morris and Maisto 2005). This model defies traditional controlling management practices, instead taking a transformational approach which inspires shared decision-making,