ARC 086: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND APPLICATION

PART I: LEADERS AND MANAGERS

What is an Organization?
 We can simply refer to an organization as a collection of people working together to achieve a common goal.
These people are working together to achieve a common purpose, which is usually the organization’s set
objectives.
 Organizations are supposed to have a vision, mission, goals and objectives. They undertake various activities
which emanate from those goals.
 Organizations are supposed to do what an individual human being would not do or achieve alone.

What is management?
 According to Peter Drucker (1955)2 , a management guru, management is concerned with a systematic
organization of economic resources to make these resources productive.
 Other definitions look at what management does. Such definitions refer to management as the process of
planning, organizing, leading and controlling the efforts of organization members and using all other
organizational resources to achieve stated organizational goals.

What is Organizational behavior?

 This is a multi-disciplinary field which studies the individual, group and organizational processes in order to know
the behavior of people in an organizational setting.
 Pheysey et al. (1971)4 referred to organizational behavior as “the study of structure, functioning and
performance of organizations and the behavior of groups and individuals within them”.

Leadership.
 Aristotle, the philosopher, advised that if you cannot lead and manage your family, you should not aspire to
enter politics. Indeed, he viewed the ancient Greek polis (ancient Greek city state) as starting from family to
forming villages and finally the city state (e.g. ancient city state of Athens).
 We can define leadership as the process of directing and influencing others to achieve group goals. These groups
are usually in organizations.
 Leaders are usually people who have a lot of influence over others.

Who is a Leader?
1. A leader influences other people who may be followers or subordinates
2. There is unequal distribution of power between the leader and those that are led (the group mates)
3. Leadership involves using different types of power to influence the subordinates’ behavior.

Qualities of leadership according to (Fiedler 19676 ):

1. Has vision and is committed to the purpose or goals of the organization
2. Guiding others through providing a role model and through willingness to serve others first
3. Optimism – Very few pessimists become leaders
4. Dedication of one’s life to serve a cause
5. A clear sense of purpose
6. Self-knowledge
7. Ability to encourage and nurture those that report to them.
Leadership styles
1. Autocratic – A leader who commands and expects compliance without question. Such a leader is dogmatic and is
willing and able to give or withhold rewards or administrative punishments
2. Participative (or democratic) – A leader who consults with subordinates on the proposed decisions and actions
and encourages participation from those subordinates
3. Free Rein (laissez-faire) – Leaders who use very little if at all of their power but instead give their subordinates a
high level of independence in their work.