Which personal style should managers adopt to ensure success? What is the most effective approach to managing the work of subordinates? These questions have been extensively researched and debated over the last century, and while the general consensus has moved away from ‘command and control’ to management and leadership towards more consultative and participative approaches, there is no single ideal, as the best approach may vary according to circumstances and individual characteristics (CMI 2013).
Leadership is the power of influencing others to follow you and it is building of relationship between a leader and an employee. A leader plays an important role in motivating people and understanding their needs (Mullins 2013:369). Management is achieving the objectives of a structured organization with the help of employees (Mullins 2013:421).Leadership and management is the two drivers of growth for a company that operates together. But, there are few similarities and differences between management and leadership. Both leadership and management deal with the structuring of companies, communicating with employees, decision- making, examine the feedback and improving the networks (Bontas 2012:85).
However, according to Kent both of them differ as managers do things right, they are more commanding and create stability within the organisation. Whereas, leader do the right things, the influence the employees and create changes to the organisation that leads to further growth (Mullins 2013:370). For example, plan and budget are designed for the short-period in terms of management for 3 to 4 years. But in leadership, vision and strategy are designed for achieving long term goals. Leadership and management should work together to support each other, because differences between them can cause conflict at work. Strong leadership can destroy the management hierarchy and strong management can discourage the engaging of people with leadership (Bontas 2012:84-85).
There have been debates regarding the selection of a leadership style, which is more appropriate for the organisation and for an employee to be lead. But, till now there is no specific approach that could be followed. According to the Tannenbaum and Schmidt, there are three forces that play important role in the selection of leadership style i.e. characteristics of a manager, personality of an employee and their beliefs, and the situation prevailing at the organisation (Mullins 2013:378). On the basis of staff behaviour and power, leadership can be classified into three forms i.e. autocratic style, democratic style and Laissez-faire style.
- In autocratic leadership, the manager takes charge of each and every thing whether it is decision-making, designing of policies and procedures to achieve objectives, and giving rewards and maintaining the discipline. The manager has the main power and the employees are given direction to follow strictly.
- In democratic leadership, the power is shared within the group and interaction within the group is better; each one has equal say and plays an important role in decision-making, regulation of policies and executing the procedures. Here manager is part of the group and share equal power with the members.
- In laissez-faire, the manager observers the work of employees and give them freedom to perform their task as they want, but the manager is available whenever it is required. This type of leadership sometime challenges an employee to take decisions that are to be taken by the manager. And it shows the manager to be running away from his responsibilities (Mullins 2013:377).
Now, I would talk about a leadership style that is about improving performance of the organization i.e. called transformational leadership. According to Burn theory there are four basic parts of transformational leadership i.e. influencing power, motivational behaviour, seek new ideas from followers and listen to the needs of the followers (Mullins 2013:386). For example, Steve jobs CEO at Apple was a transformational leader, as he was an inspirational, innovative and used to set high standards for himself and then ask others to follow. He always lead from front, whenever the new product was launched, he was the one to present it with his complete involvement in the development of the product as well. But, the only thing that lacked was he didn’t hear to the requirements of employee and was demanding. Despite of it, in 1996 he took Apple to the heights from facing financial crisis and now the company is leading the world with its innovations (Mullins 2013:405).
As a member of a team, I would like to be lead by a leader who follows a democratic leadership style. A leader who get involved with the team, give us a chance to be part of decision-making and listen to our needs. For example, someone like Tim Cook the new CEO of Apple with a different approach, has made the company more open. And he is making special efforts to take actions that fulfill the needs of organisation and employees. He has designed a program to match the staff gifts to charity; this shows the caring nature of Tim Cook towards organisation and employees (Lashinsky 2012).
References
Bontas, D. (2012) ‘Management and Leadership in business’. Economy Transdisciplinarity Cognition [online] 15(2), 83-92. Available from < http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9b643bc7-9c26-4142-8a43-657b3d832a79%40sessionmgr113&vid=10&hid=118 > [10 December 2013]
Lashinsky, Adam (2012) ‘HOW TIM COOK IS CHANGING APPLE’. Fortune [online] 165(8), 110-118. Available from < http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=983deb98-6987-4945-a837-5aa2a3faf4a5%40sessionmgr112&vid=10&hid=112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=76348434 > [12 December 2013]
Mullins, Laurie J. (2013) Management & Organisational Behaviour. 10th edition, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited
YouTube (2009) Dr. Judith Wright on Transformational Leadership [online] available from < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8RC7HXSNGQ > [12 December 2013]
Ankit bhardwaj 
So, Is there a difference between ‘Leadership’ and ‘Leadership Style’ and which one is a learned behavior and which is inherent?
there is a difference between ‘Leadership’ and ‘Leadership style’, as leadership is inherent and it is about how you influence others. whereas, leadership style is behaviour or approach that a leader follows.
Nicely woven and presented Mr. Bhardwaj, I have a confusion rising Can you define the different leadership styles that Steve Jobs and Tim cook, both the CEOs of Apple have been following ?
Both of them are transformational leader, but Steve jobs was more of an autocratic leader and Tim cook is a democratic leader. Steve wanted his employees to do things as he wanted it to be and was not much concerned about their needs. Whereas, Tim listened to his employee.
Quite rightly said about both the leaders. Who do you think according to you was more efficient ?
For me both of them are efficient in their own way. Steve took the company to heights in whatever he did, but if he could have listen to the need of his employees, it would have been exceptional. And Tim has started well, let’s hope he carries that ahead.