Introduction
Leadership and management are key issues that determine the performance of organizations. Investors may not be good leaders or have the required management skills; therefore, they hire professionals to run their organizations. Learning and tainting institutions offer various courses that ensure managers and leaders are equipped with the relevant skills required to sustain and improve the performance of various organizations.
Scholars have supported different theories to explain how leadership and management skills are essential in companies and how they can be improved to ensure there is maximum utilization of resources. This paper examines Henri Fayol Management Principles and Stauffacher’s Management Principles and Espoused Leadership Context and Principles respectively.
Stauffacher’s Espoused Leadership Context and Principles
This critic argues that leadership must provide purpose, direction and motivation to subordinates to achieve the objectives of an organization. He claims that leaders must show other workers the reason and benefits of respecting work policies to ensure the visions of their organizations are realized (Kraemer 43). This is achieved by focusing on the goals, standards and priorities like reduction of expenses and maximizing resources to generate profits.
He argues that leaders motivate their subordinates by being responsible and accountable. This means that if a leader reports to work late or offers excuses every time things go wrong the subordinates will follow suit and their organizations will not achieve their goals easily (Maxwell 13).
Good leaders should reward responsible workers by recommendation their salary increments and promotions and at the same time reprimand and punish those that fail to respect the policies of their organizations. This will ensure workers maintain a high level of discipline that is necessary for better performance (Kraemer 49). He discussed the following key leadership principles that should not be compromised if organizations want to achieve their goals.
First, he explains that leaders should know themselves and seek to improve their skills through experience and training. This means that being in a leadership position should not put people in comfort zones because there is the need for them to acquire additional knowledge and skills that are essential in ensuring they perform their duties properly.
In addition, he proposes that leaders should be proficient at their jobs and ensure they seek and accept responsibility at their places of work. This is an effective way of promoting transparency and accountability at work and helps other workers to maintain a high level of discipline.
Moreover, he adds that good leaders should ensure they make sound and timely decisions that will be accepted by their subordinates. A leader in the accounts department must be in the forefront in advising other leaders how to spend money wisely to ensure companies have resources for emergencies and do not misuse their abilities (Maxwell 22). He recommends that subordinates must be informed about issues that affect them or the company.
It is necessary to ensure that subordinates are informed about key decisions in a company even if they are not directly affected by them. For instance, a decision to ensure that all cars are parked at designated places is a good way of ensuring there is law and order in a company. Subordinate staffs should be informed about these decisions to ensure they direct visitors and other stakeholders to park their vehicles at specified places.
In addition, communication should be timely because some messages become useless if they are not delivered at the correct time. Communication will ensure tasks are understood and that everybody knows what is supposed to be done at all times. Sometimes employees may fail to perform their deities properly because of ambiguous instructions that confuse them.
Lack of proper guidelines that define the roles and stations of workers causes conflicts among them and expose the weaknesses of leaders in such organizations. Therefore, leaders should ensure their decrees are understood before they start holding their employees accountable for failing to perform their duties properly.
It is important for leaders to ensure they do not misuse the capabilities of their organizations (Maxwell 48). For instance, participation in corporate social responsibility is a noble course but this does not mean that leaders should be excessively philanthropic in distributing company resources to communities.
Lastly, this author argues that team building is a clear indication that a leader is in control of an organization. Workers come from different backgrounds and some of them do not even know the meaning of teamwork and its importance (Kraemer 67). Therefore, it is the responsibility of a leader to ensure all workers and departments are brought together and there is unity and coordination among them.
It is very easy for organizations to achieve their goals if their workers are united. These principles are very important because they help leaders and their subordinates to understand their roles, promote communication and work as a team to achieve the objectives of their organizations.
Fayol Management Principles
Henri Fayol outlined 14 Principles of Management he believed were necessary in guiding managers to execute their mandates properly and help their organizations to perform well. He believed that division of labor is an indispensable aspect in modern businesses because it encourages specialization and this increases the efficiency of workers and improves their effectiveness (Titman 47). He advocates for organizations to assign roles to their workers according to their skills, qualifications, experience and interest.
Secondly, he argues that a good manager should have authority and responsibility to ensure he has the right to command subordinates and exhort their obedience. This will put him in apposition that will ensure the subordinates follow command from a central location (Hill and McShane 39). Respect at the work place is an indispensable aspect because it draws lines between managers and their subordinates. Therefore, managers should not be too soft on workers lest they want them to disappoint their leadership abilities.
Organizational goals cannot be achieved if there is no discipline and it is the role of managers to ensure punishments and rewards are used appropriately to manage the behavior of subordinates. This author claims that the need to have a leader like the CEO of a company such as Apple, Google and others ensures there is coordination and smooth flow of instructions from a central position.
Organizations that have various leadership positions experience serious challenges in managing their affairs due to confusions and conflict of interests (Titman 70). Unity is important in planning because it ensures all workers follow a plan developed by the management. The performance of managers affects the overall competence and effectiveness of their organizations.
Therefore, they should learn to put the interests of their employers before theirs. It is necessary for managers to ensure that their personal perceptions and interests are kept at bay if they do not help their organizations to achieve their goals.
Moreover, workers exchange their energy and expertise for money and thus they must be properly compensated to ensure they are motivated to work harder. Managers have the responsibility of ensuring that all workers get reasonable salaries and those that deserve promotions are allowed to occupy higher offices and improve the performance of their companies.
They should know that they earn good salaries because of the hard work of their subordinates; therefore, they should reciprocate these favors by ensuring that investors offer reasonable salaries to their workers (Hill and McShane 43).
There are various systems of management and it is important to understand that none is better than the other. Some organizations perform well if they use centralized management systems while others do the opposite. Therefore, managers should ensure they make appropriate decisions regarding when, where and how to delegate duties. It is unwise for them to perform all duties and put on their shoulders the responsibility of managing their organizations and doing all chores (Titman 81).
However, delegation of duties should be based on workers’ experience, ability, training and interest to ensure people are not forced to do what they do not want or are not capable of doing. This author argues that the hierarchy of an organization must be maintained and respected to ensure there is proper execution of orders and communication flows through the designed channels to improve efficiency in performance.
Lastly, he recommends that there must be order in an organization to ensure workers, investors and the public. This is achieved through a fair application of the standards that regulate the behavior of workers (Hill and McShane 69). In addition, he concludes that employees should be motivated to work hard by ensuring that there is low staff turnover and that employees are allowed to be innovative even if they make mistakes because this is an effective way of learning.
Conclusion
Effective leadership and management cannot be achieved by wishful thinking but by working hard and ensuring the principles that guide these aspects are respected and followed. Good leaders make excellent managers because they know what they are supposed to do and how to treat their subordinates. There is no shortcut to improved performance and workers must ensure they follow the policies of their companies and do their best to improve their performance.
Works Cited
Hill, Charles and Steven McShane. Principles of Management. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.
Kraemer, Harry. From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership. New Jersey: Jossey-Bass, 2011. Print.
Maxwell, John. Leadership Principles for Graduates: Create Success in Life One Day at a Time. Mexico: Thomas Nelson, 2007. Print.
Titman, Sheridan. Financial Management: Principles and Applications. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
