The manager and the leader in an organization are the main motivators of all employees. Motivation does not come by itself and is not always related to salary.
Employees have a psychological and professional need for quality managers and leaders to develop them.
The manager can help his team in any way. And the leader solves problems and gives direction to professional development. Reference: “Manager or Leader: What are the differences and similarities”, https://bvop.org/journal/manager-vs-leader/
Every organization needs two stable roles – manager and leader. The manager creates work rules and processes to grow the business and complete the projects successfully. And the leader is the inspiration of the employees.
It charges everyone with positive energy and builds the company culture.
Remember that not every manager can be a leader. And not every leader may be suitable to act as a manager in a team or organization.
Both positions require certain personal and professional qualities.
Leaders and their importance for the success of a modern business organization
Leadership is a complex issue and is addressed in various aspects:
Philosophically – historically – in this sense, leadership largely merges with the problem of the role of the great person;
Sociological – focuses on the links of leadership with the social structure and its role in the functioning of public organizations;
Socially – psychologically – they consider leadership as an element of interpersonal relations in social groups;
Psychologically – the personality traits of the leader
Political science, etc .;
Socio-psychological research is predominant, as the concepts and theories created by social psychology are used by all sciences studying this phenomenon, including management.
It is necessary to recall some definitions of “leadership”, as it is often identified with the word “leadership”. According to some of the definitions, leadership means:
- A process by which an agent provokes the desired behavior in his subordinates;
- Direction and coordination of the work of the teams, the members;
An interpersonal relationship in which consideration for the other comes out of necessity, not coercion; - Causing change in followers, creating ideas about the goals that can be pursued, and providing followers with ways to achieve them;
The presence of a certain relationship of bliss between two or more people; - A process of such influencing an organized group that would make it strive to achieve its goals.
The leader’s job in real life is to make others work
The leader’s job in real life is to make others work the way he wants. What matters to management practitioners is the effective use of leadership and power.
Let’s start with a more common description of the leader as most of us perceive it and try to distinguish the leader from the manager.
Of course, this is a theoretical division, because in many cases the manager is also a leader in his organization, and on the other hand there are so-called informal leaders – people who do not have a hierarchical position, but whom people trust and are ready to follow them.
Leadership is the ability to influence teams
Leadership is the ability to influence individuals and groups to direct their efforts towards achieving the goals of the organization.
Influence – the behavior of an individual, which leads to a change in behavior, attitudes, feelings, etc. to another individual.
Power – and opportunity to influence the behavior of others. Leaders in the organization rely on some or all of the main types of power:
Legitimate – based on the award
Sanction – based on coercion
Expert
Reference
Information
The legitimate authority of the manager
Legitimate power derives from the position held in the hierarchy in the organization. Usually, managers have such power.
The administrator believes that the leader has the right to command, and he has to obey these orders.
The ability to punish or encourage his subordinates strengthens the authority of the leader to issue orders. Thus, the functioning of the organization depends directly on the willingness of subordinates to recognize the authority – the legitimate authority of management.
When a person recognizes an influence that is based on tradition, he has the feeling that he belongs to a social group. This sense of belonging can satisfy his social need.
The rule of law is an attractive tool for both the organization and the leader. It has a great advantage called impersonality.
The subordinate does not react to the person, but the position.
Power based on reward – typical of leaders
Power based on reward. It can be defined as influence through positive support. Managers sometimes reward their subordinates for a well-executed project.
But rewarding employees is typical of leaders. Remuneration-based power provides positive support to subordinates for desired behavior. Subordinates do not resist, because, expecting in one form or another, some reward.
To the extent that all personalities and their needs have a unique character, for some the reward is valuable, and for others, it may be the opposite. To influence behavior, remuneration must be considered sufficiently valuable.
In a sense, this power plays its role only if the leader correctly determines and offers such a remuneration that most accurately coincides with the notions of remuneration of the subordinate.
For this, a good leader must be able to apply other ways of influencing his subordinates.
Coercive power: typical of the manager
Many managers often use the method of influence through fear. Leaders do not. They usually want to inspire people.
The leader does not want the teams to be afraid of punishment. The leader does not give orders but makes requests.
However, the manager is well acquainted with the methods of coercion through fear. Reference: “Manager vs leader: similarities and differences”, https://pm.mba/posts/manager-vs-leader/
The manager can control difficult employees when necessary. In certain circumstances, even a mere hint of dismissal or demotion usually yields immediate results.
In modern organizations, this method is used less and less, because it can work in the opposite direction.
When coercion is at the heart of power, it is almost impossible to apply effective control at moderate costs, as there is an increase in people’s desire to deliberately deceive the organization. Research shows that organizations that apply this type of power are characterized by not very high productivity and low product quality. In such organizations, coercion leads rather to negative consequences, such as irresponsibility, rigidity, alienation, which lead to dissatisfaction among subordinates and high staff turnover.
Expert power: typical of both managers and leaders
Expert power is influence through reasonable faith. This influence is realized in the following way.
Both manager and leader can influence their employees through their high professionalism and professional qualities and specialized skills.
The subordinate is convinced that his / her supervisor has special expertise and knowledge regarding a project or problem.
He accepts in faith the values and knowledge of his leader and does so with the awareness that his decision is the most correct.
By accepting the reasonable opinion of the specialists, the line manager frees up time, which would otherwise serve as a thorough check of each recommendation of his specialists.
In this way, the line manager uses this time to solve more complex issues and tasks. The formation of reasonable faith usually takes a long time.
Sometimes it takes years for professionals to gain some authority among line managers so that their opinion is accepted with confidence and without reservation.
Reference power
In this way of influence, the subordinate is identified with the leader. People often experience the influence of those people they admire. They are their ideal and role model. A leader with such qualities can skillfully use the power based on example. This type of leader often serves as an example to his subordinates.
Information authority
Information power is the result of access to and control over the distribution of important information about the functioning of the organization and plans.
To this type of power, we can add access to people in power.
The closeness and personal contacts with them, the opportunity to receive information from them, and most of all to submit it to them, to comment on it, etc. reflects on the expansion of our power.
References
- “Formation of the goals of the business organization”, https://www.businesspad.org/formation-of-the-goals-of-the-business-organization/
- “Typical management structures”, https://agileprojectmanagers.blogspot.com/2021/07/typical-management-structures.html
- “Organizational and management structures”, https://pgov.org/organizational-and-management-structures/
- “Fundamentals of management and classification of management functions”, https://www.libraryofmu.org/fundamentals-of-management/
- “The profession of the manager: How to become one”, https://scrumtime.org/profession-of-the-manager/
- “Knowledge and skills of the manager”, https://projectmanagement.news.blog/2021/07/09/knowledge-and-skills-of-the-manager/
- “Motivating the behavior of the manager”, https://agileprojectmanagement.home.blog/2021/07/10/motivating-the-behavior-of-the-manager/
- “Types of organizational and managerial structures”, https://www.policymatters.net/types-of-organizational-and-managerial-structures/
- “Management approaches in the organizations for managers”, https://medfd.org/management-approaches-in-the-organizations-for-managers/
- “Management structures in the organization”, https://w-europe.org/management-structures-in-the-organization/
- “What is organizational culture?”, https://stc-montreal.org/what-is-organizational-culture/
The success of the manager
The success of the manager in power depends on the following conditions:
- to use power openly and lawfully;
- to select the “best government” to influence different types of people;
- to use all types of power;
- to approach power maturely and in a controlled manner;
- not to use it impulsively;
- to constantly develop its power and seek new sources;
- to enjoy the influence of other people;